Indian police showed off their upgraded equipment as they paraded through Mumbai a year after devastating attacks by militants paralyzed the country’s financial hub for 60 long hours and killed 166 people…. From VOA. Full story

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This is the hardest post ever.  It’s over. Dad passed away on the 15th November and I feel numb. Numb, can’t focus, teary, vague… I don’t know, everything is too hard at the moment.  This is how it went:

In my last post I went home because my sister had to leave for a while.  I stayed until she came back and Dad was pretty much the same so I came home again. I found it stressful trying to juggle home and wanting to be with Dad and supporting Mum. But really, I wasn’t doing anything but waiting around for him to die and I had a family who needed me here too so I came home.

That was on a Saturday I think. Then on Tuesday Mum said everyone needed to come home because Dad was worse. So we all make our travel arrangements and begin to make our way home. I had (stupidly) taken on a huge job that I thought I could knock over in 24hrs but it took much longer and I ended up burning the candle at both ends and didn’t make it up to see Dad until Thursday. There were all kinds of problems with me getting there, my brother wanted me to go with him but I didn’t want him to wait for me so told him to go, I couldn’t get a train because it was full, nearly missed my bus because of incompetent taxi driver… ug, stress city I’m telling you!  I was so scared that I wouldn’t make it but my sisters told me they were telling him to hang on because I was coming soon.

I’d like to just take a moment here and say how absolutely fabulous T was during this time. He never blinked an eye when I was going to and fro between here and my parents, he just accepted whatever I wanted to do and got on with things without a murmur of complaint or questioning my sometimes unreasonable thinking (really, I couldn’t think properly at all so I consider the man a saint for putting up with me). It wasn’t until everything was over that he said it was hard having me away  – complete with cuddles and kisses. He is the most fabulous husband EVER!

Anyway I made it and was thankful to find Dad still lucid and knew I was there with him. I was shocked to see how much he had deteriorated in just those few days and I don’t think I’ll ever erase the visions of him being skeletal thin, wearing incontinence pants, sucking on wet sponges because he couldn’t swallow and just being so awfully, awfully sick. I really had to look into his eyes to see the Dad that I loved looking back at me.

You know what the most horrible thing was? It was that Dad knew he was dying and just wanted to go. He would go to sleep and wake in frustration that he was still here. At various times he was begging us to take him home or was begging us to talk to the doctor about giving him more morphine so he would just go to sleep and die. I will never ever forget that. I can’t believe that anyone who has ever watched a loved one die of cancer would not be an advocate for euthanasia. Seriously, if there was a switch to turn off, I would have done it. The suffering he was enduring was unbearable and no human being should have to go through that hell.

Finally he seemed to reach a plateau of peace and the frustration disappeared. All the family had gathered,  his siblings had visited, his beloved children were with him, his treasured wife never too far away.  We let him know that we loved him, he could leave us if he wanted to, we would see him in the afterlife. We (my siblings and I) were taking shifts from dawn til dusk, to sit by his bedside then Mum would come in and stay the night with him. We were trying to let her get some rest during the day and be with him during the quiet of the night. I don’t know why but we all thought he would pass during the night and that Mum should be the one to be with him.

Mum woke me at 1.05am on Sunday 15th November to tell me Dad had gone. She was going around waking us all up one by one with a shaky voice and tears in her eyes. We all arose, hugged, cried and sat staring into space wondering what to do next. Mum sent us back to bed and we got a little more sleep… kind of.

So that was it. We passed the following days in a whirl of making funeral arrangements, talking with the celebrant, and then the actual funeral. That was a very difficult day. This has already been a long post and I don’t think I have the strength to go into it right now but it was a nice service and one I think Dad would have liked.

I’m trying to get back to ‘normal’ life. It’s so hard. I feel like I’m wading through mud, I’m exhausted all the time, I can’t focus well on anything (so I’m not working), I struggle to do day to day things, I cry a lot… I suppose this is all a part of the grieving process. I don’t like it. I hate feeling out of control.

The horrendous thing is that if it’s this bad for me then it must be 100 times worse for Mum. Did I mention that Dad died 1 day away from his 77th birthday and just 5 days away from their 55th wedding anniversary? FIFTY-FIVE YEARS together! That is such a long long time to be with someone. It breaks my heart to think how difficult it will be for Mum to adjust to life without her life partner, her best friend, her soul mate. They really were an amazing couple, awesome role models and a couple that was truly meant to be together forever.

Rest in peace my Daddy, I love you so much and I miss you every second of every day.

..I DO.

It’s 5:30am and I’m waiting for my 360 controller to charge, thus it’s time to babble. About what? On a subject I have touched on many times before, but I’m going to expand it even further, yes, it’s FFID.

To be precise, I’ll expand upon what role each character plays, looking upon it in a DND/generic fantasy fashion. Of course I’ve never actually played DND nor have I read that much of it, so I’m just going to use it as a comparison.

I’ll start with Erthus, as he is perhaps the most simple to explain. Erthus is a DPS warrior, a fighter, whatever. Trained to use almost every form of weapon, but much like Montolio, he prefers to use a two-handed axe or sword, it is a sign of how they grew up mostly. Whilst realistically a sword and shield would be superior, it just wasn’t..cool enough for them. Besides, the axe especially serves other purposes. Generally however, Erthus would go into battle with a two-handed weapon, a smaller sidearm and an array of knives. Whilst he’s trained with bows and crossbows and the like, Erthus prefers the throwing knife, finding it far more versatile. He is not however a tank, whilst he wears heavy armour, it is usually to protect from spells more than blades. He is not the type of warrior to just trade blow for blow, rather he relies more on riposte and counters, ensuring that he spends minimal energy to make up for the fact that swinging large weapons and wearing heavy attire may tire him out. This being said, Erthus enjoys battle and will rarely aim to kill from the outset, he won’t go all out you could say. Perhaps it’s a superiority complex, but like Lant, Erthus usually plays on the defensive, he waits for his opponent to attack so he can show them how futile their actions are, not to mention to confirm that he is indeed superior to them. Having trained in several combat styles, Erthus is well matched and experienced in one to one duels, yet also fares well against several opponents at once, he can adapt to almost any melee situation. However he lacks any ability to manipulate magic whatsoever, save for that one certain technique. Outside of combat his abilities are similarly somewhat lacking, he is skilled in basic first aid yet no medic and has knowledge of gnomish engineering, yet he has little wit or patience for conversation. If the fastest way to fix a problem is to smash it with a sword, Erthus will pick that. As for his war mount, Erthus makes use of an armoured steed, one that can bear his considerable bulk. If you had to classify him as a class, Erthus is a pure up fighter, a warrior, a blademaster, not so much a berserker yet he does tend to get..angry. He has not sworn any oaths, yet he is loyal to friends and nation..even if he does not always see fit to follow their laws. It would be simplest to define him as a fighter, but that is deceptively simple, it is dangerous to underestimate him on those grounds, as he has taken it to the highest pinnacle. Erthus wields the two-handed blade Hautecler (Halt Cleh Ray) and a two-handed axe constructed from Arcanite he named “The Bone-Reaver.” He is also the third wielder of San Desica.

As for Montolio, he is somewhat harder to define. I usually split him into two distinct roles, there’s Paladin Montolio and “Ranger” Montolio. I think we all know how the Paladin works. Mont’s a retribution Paladin, path of the blade, whatever, his experience was in offense and support on the frontlines. As for the later part, it is extremely hard to define. I use the term Ranger, but it is not entirely accurate. Like Erthus, Montolio is trained with most weapons, yet prefers the longsword or two-handed sword. He is also a keen archer, despite the loss of one eye, decades of eventual practice and necessity have kept his aim true. Whilst Erthus can fight no matter the number of his enemies, Montolio is only adept at fighting one on one, if he is forced to fight several opponents, he uses the enviroment to make it so that they can only come at him in single file. Whilst not as skilled as Erthus and lacking the immense physical strength of his brother, Montolio is a quick learner and quick thinker, able to supplement his weaknesses. His role in the party is relatively straightforward, as a Paladin he would be on the frontline, supporting the party and damaging the enemy, as a Ranger he can fight from afar or up close, he’s a jack of “most” trades you could say. Erthus uses throwing knives, Mont uses a shortbow, however he does have the fabled “Montbow” if the situation requires it. If Erthus was eventually a blademaster, capable of creating form and technique, Montolio would be a copycat apprentice, he does not create his own form or technique, but rather imitates the style of others, perhaps improving it as he may. As for HOW he fights specifically, it is the opposite of Erthus, whilst Erthus fights “slowly” and remains on the defensive mostly, Montolio seeks to end the battle as fast as possible, he will go all out from the start, he’ll use any advantage as soon as possible in an attempt to overwhelm his opponent. Outside of battle, he would rather use his gentle humour and wit to avoid a confrontation, but if there is a battle to be fought, few can match him. Decades of living in the world and years of torture have made Montolio incredibly endurable, he’s not a Druid, not in touch with nature, but he knows enough to read signs as they come, naturally this combined with his knowledge of first aid makes him slightly more adept at healing than Erthus, but still not someone you should consider a doctor. You could describe him as a Ranger, a Bard, a Duelist, a Hunter, a Swordsman, it’s nigh impossible to get the right term, I myself use Ranger in the Lord of the Rings sense as I find it most fitting. I think you can find that Erthus and Montolio have many characters you could compare them to, perhaps the most suitable would be Boromir and Faramir. More obvious in terms of the story however might be Anakin and Obi Wan, albeit with some role reversal at times. Finally if you’re wandering what Montolio’s mount is, in the early part of the story he has none save the human steeds of Elwynn, later (part 3) he wrangles a particularly savage and powerful variation of tall strider he encountered in the northern barrens, to his wife’s chagrin he named the beast “Montstrider” but after many an argument he relented and named the beast Frahlo. Frahlo is a fierce fighter in his own right, and for some unexplained reason has survived alongside Montolio for over a hundred years. Montolio wields the longsword Vapor, the “Montbow” (an extremely oversized longbow) the two-handed axe, “Grand-Mont’s Sunderer” as well as an un-named shortbow and is the fifth wielder of San Desica. After his self-exile, he is often accompanied by an owl he names “Ian the first hooting tooting baron of Azshara” or “Hoota” for short which assists his aim with a bow on account of his worsened eyesight by hooting by his targets.

Finally we move onto Frahlo, the last member of the party. It might seem odd that it’s only a three person party, but hey that’s how they role. Frahlo’s a mage as I’m sure you are aware. Whilst initially he is an elementalist with little reknown, as the story progresses, so to does Frahlo’s understanding of magic. Remarkably fast some say, un-naturally so. This of course would be thanks to Mirasmiel. To touch upon his non magical abilities first, Frahlo is relatively skilled with a blade, much to Montolio’s dismay he often wields an ungainly two handed sword upon his back. Never the less, Frahlo has enough skill with a blade to serve in a dire situation, in a way it suits him. Frahlo usually refers to himself as a combat mage, his magic is dedicated for battle mostly. He also tends to betray the usual mage mantra of standing far away and pelting his foes with energy, instead Frahlo often finds himself in the thick of things, using unconvential means of what he calls “CQM”, close quarters magic whilst questioning the parentage of his enemies (a trait picked up from Mirasmiel, perhaps) Whilst one might think it foolish for a mage to engage in close quarters melee, Frahlo’s (and Mirasmiel’s) knowledge of shielding and portal based magic proves to be formidable indeed. Frahlo is skilled in almost all schools of magic, whilst his personal preference is fire and ice, he is extremely proficient in utilising spells in ways others would not think of. If pressed greatly, Frahlo can use the magics of Mirasmiel, for whilst it should be impossible to use the mana of another world, Mirasmiel’s vessel itself is pure mana. That is to say, Mirasmiel himself is akin to an immense mana battery from his own world, allowing Frahlo to use exotic magics never seen on Azeroth before..to varying degrees of success. Frahlo’s main strength lied in fighting non magic using enemies, of any number, as such he was less effective when dueling a single magic using foe. However, over the course of the story he steadily improves until he is what many consider a perfect mage. Erthus is the perfect fighter, Frahlo the perfect mage, and Montolio is a bit of a mix, he does not truly exceed at any factor, but is more than adequate at each of them (bar spell casting of course, when he stops being a Paladin, magic is more or less closed to him) Frahlo’s first mount was a horse, yet sadly it perished saving its master in circumstances that will become clear. Following this, Montolio gives him a Dun Morogh ram, once a gift to the Ranger from Kurineor. Frahlo wields several magical blades of his own creation along with the final creation of Rollard Runecraft – Vajra, the fire enhancing staff of great magical power that Rollard once left to Lant. Montolio gifted this to Frahlo as well, deeming Lant unworthy (not to mention Lant had no interest in such a thing.)

[HERE THERE BE SPOILERS.. AHOY]

It begs the question, who would win if they fought? It’s a tough question, you have to consider so many things, where they are fighting, why they are fighting and so forth. Perhaps for Erthus and Frahlo the answers would be more simple, yet for Montolio, WHY becomes a large issue. For Montolio’s “strength” per se scales depending on who his foe is, it fluctuates and is not exactly stable, indeed, another trait of Montolio I mentioned before was his copycat tendencies. He can change himself in battle, self suggestion one might say, he changes who he is by drawing a blade. As such even if Montolio defeated Uska when Uska defeated Erthus, that does not mean Montolio could beat Erthus, does that make sense? Well regardless, Erthus is certainly the best fighter, he would probably beat Montolio in a straight up fight (this is Ranger Mont in all these examples) but against Frahlo it’s possible Erthus would lose. It’s hard to think because the outcome of most fights depends on the story but if I had to write a fight randomly without any regard to the outcome, Erthus would beat Montolio, Frahlo would beat Erthus, and Montolio would beat Frahlo. I’ll briefly touch on Lant and Yorae too whilst I’m on the matter.

Lant..is impossible to describe. I have him listed as a Conjurer, but that’s not strictly true. Lant is like a combination of Montolio and Erthus. He can do a bit of everything like Montolio can, yet whilst Mont is more melee oriented, Lant is more magic. However he is more like Erthus in how he fights, he mostly sits on the defensive and counters more than outright attacks. Unless angered of course. In a strictly melee battle with no magic involved whatsoever, Erthus would be superior to Lant, yet taking magic into account, Lant could defeat Montolio with ease in a melee battle, even Erthus would lose against him. Whilst Lant is about as skilled as Frahlo with a blade, he is an extremely effective hand to hand fighter and often strengthens this aspect of his character even more with magic. Against Frahlo, Lant is the superior caster, there are few mages on Azeroth with the wit and knowledge to defeat Lant in a battle of magic. Of course, Mirasmiel is not of Azeroth. Even taking conventional magic out of the equation, Lant has three trump cards he will use if need be. First there’s Aughtfire, the spell that ignores time and as such cannot be defended against. Second there is San Desica, a blade which links all dimensions, and as such, also cannot be defended against. Finally there’s Lant’s link to Tri, the mysterious demon realm. I won’t go into great detail as I don’t want to spoil EVERYTHING but it is this that makes Lant so formidable, and perhaps, unbeatable. Outside of godly beings, there is little that poses a threat to Lant, that by itself might mean that he could be considered a god by some. So what will happen when the “god” with unlimited magic fights Mirasmiel, the one who claims himself a god, a god who is in possession of every spell ever created. Finally, Lant has no need for a mount, as for weapons, he may summon an unlimited amount of any weapon he wishes, yet mostly he prefers his own fists or fire. He is the second wielder of San Desica.

Yorae’s nice and simple to explain after all these huge barons. Simply put, Yorae’s a shadowknight. He fights using darkness, he travels via darkness, he can manipulate it and so forth. He rarely fights, yet when he does it is extremely brutal and rarely do his foes remain recognisable after he is finished. Perhaps it is due to his nature of being nigh immortal, but he likes to make sure whoever it is he is fighting, isn’t going to be getting back up. Yorae also rarely bothers using a mount and as for his weapon, he (near)exclusively wields Zomorrodnegar, however he is also the fourth wielder of San Desica.

I guess I more or less covered everything important there, here’s a quick rundown:

Erthus

• +Master level melee fighter
• +Well protected from magic
• +Powerful technique and style
• -Has problems with on the fly adaptation
• -A tad cocky at times
• -No skill with magic whatsoever

Montolio

• +Adapts quickly
• +Strong ability to imitate
• +General all-round fighter (melee/ranged) Jack of all trades..
• -..Master of none
• -Very limited skill with magic
• -No techniques of his own

Frahlo

• +Very strong magic user
• +Able to fight close or long range
• +Mirasmiel hax
• -(Comparatively) weak melee fighter
• -Inexperienced mage duelist
• -Deepsea dive hat

No need to mention Lant and Yorae considering Lant’s basically flawless and Yorae can only even be killed by something that completely negates magic..or just nicks his sword.

I on the other hand, have no weaknesses.

Other than “dying” and not getting a proper end even when Mullin did, that is?

Now it’s 8:00am, man I’m probably the best person in the world at distracting myself like this! Uuh now my controller has more than adequately charged, but I find myself longing for breakfast.

Oh before I go, I’ll quickly list everything that shows up in the 2 year bonus thing. I suppose I’ll say what it IS, too. To summarise, it’s a compilation of random stuff that may or may not have happened from 2007 to 2009. Of course, some of the things on there are far older. Namely, the two pals in the bottom left who must be almost 10 years old by now.

(Starting from bottom left)

• “Best Jiang Liang” courtesy of BIG MIKE.
• “Zhou Wuuu” courtesy of BIG MIKE.
• Lant (from SS, don’t get him mixed up with FFID Lant) he’s not to be mistaken for a lantern.
• Lant (from FI1) It’s a slight paradox to have him sitting ontop of himself from the future but ok.
• Screenshot of the first time I got banned from the WoW forums. Funny to me as I trolled people 24/7 and in the end got banned for just merely correcting somebody!
• Montolio_reacts_staring_at_Sayoko.jpg etc
• Frahlo insists that he is HATING. MANGEY. CUMMING. ALL ON YOU.
• GET SOME.
• Dio.
• Beitetsu’s Bloggy Woggy (that lasted very long.)
• Bork.
• Captain Falcon (duh? He was with me from the start on this epic ballad of rage.)
• Apachai + Mao. Partners in..awesome?
• OL CAPPIN FLAPJACKA M8SLAPPA THE 18TH – THE CAPTAIN
  ADMIRAL FAGLO SWIFTPOOPA THE 94TH – THE ADMIRIAL OF THE M8-FLEET??? (Frahlo parrot)

I drew most of them myself with as I’m sure you can see, limited effort. I put a little bit extra into the ol’ Captain (..Falcon) as he was in my first banner.

If you want to be correct though, this was my first banner.

There’s a reason I didn’t use that.

I can’t find the others I thought I had, I seem to have deleted them.

Que after more searching I’ve found what appears to be a photograph of my head, taken from above. Why? Also why is my hair so much darker than now. Well I can’t find what I was looking for so settle for this:

I was hoping for something from 2007, but mid 2008 works.

Oh, what IS that you ask?

I uh..think it was my design for some sort of military grade ant-eater that would assist me in my problem with insects, that is, I hate insects of all kind.

Yes, this post is 3000 words long. I win.

]]> http://guildwip.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/memories/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:31:42 +0000 kepolas http://guildwip.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/memories/

While celebrating WoW’s 5th anniversary lots of people got nostalgic about the good old days when they first started to play WoW – I’m no exception. To me, the time when I made my first steps in WoW is connected with several important personal events in my life, and it was probably one of the happiest time in my life. Every time I think of those days I have wide smile on my face.

It all started when my dear friends Hollyone and Willpower, who usually live in another city, moved to the city I live for their studies. They settled in my building in apartment right above mine. As soon as we got the chance to talk they started to explain me their genius plan to play pvp in WoW and wanted me to join. Willpower all ready had account with lvl 60 rouge, Hollyone didn’t exist at the moment, and I didn’t even know what classes exist in WoW. Next day we went to the store and bought two accounts, one for me and one for Hollyone.

Since the two of them were so imba and I was complete noob, they ordered me to start playing with hunter. I couldn’t argue since I had almost no idea what else to choose, so I rolled hunter and the fun started. We decided to level up to 19/29/39/49 level and stay on those levels for pvp play.

In order to have more fun, we put up small LAN network in my apartment and Willpower, who was paladin btw, practically moved in to my apartment. My sister, who lived with me went crazy, as we would play every day after studies till late hours. We were always together talking stories about our fights, planing strategies. My apartment become real base of operations, as we would make epic breakfasts and lunches between games, while waiting in queue or just talking about wow, and of course lots of friends came for a visit and so on. Truly awesome time.

I used to tease Willpower he was my pet, as he just ran into the middle of WSG aggroing horde, and I was hiding behind making killing blows. Hollyone was supposed to heal us, but because of his awesomeness he had some different ideas in mind – like healing flag carrier and other nonsense!!

After some time we found ourselves in great premade WSG group, and after the match we got assimilated to the guild running the premade. Name of the guild was Nerf Us, and that was probably one of the best twink guild ever. In all my time playing with that guild I can remember maybe one or two matches lost, and lots of great wins. One of the most interesting matches were when Hollyone showed his awesomeness by dedicating match to a guildie who accidentally level’d up and couldn’t play with us anymore. Right at the start of WSG match Hollyone started to slowly walk toward Horde flag room. By the time he got there we already scored two flags, he took third flag and walked back to our flag room to score. Whole time he was walking slowly, didn’t stop for anything, didn’t die and he scored for victory – how cool is that? There was another cool match I remember. Another guildie decided to leave us, and we had one last match with him. We didn’t want him to leave so after second flag was scored, we took third flag and all moved to Horde grave yard. There we were camping Horde for whole hour before we scored for victory.

How did you first start to play WoW..? Do you have any cool memories or stories to share..?

Ceremonies are being held in India on the first anniversary of a series of devastating attacks on the city of Mumbai…. From BBC News. Full story

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Ceremonies are being held in India on the first anniversary of a series of devastating attacks on the city of Mumbai…. From BBC News. Full story

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Four years ago yesterday, I wrote my first ever blogpost!

(That was over at blogspot.com – we’ll have to wait till next month for the three-year anniversary of the move to wordpress.)

When I started, I hardly told anyone about it, thinking I would feebly run out of things to say within a few posts. Ah, the folly. (Then when that never happened, somehow the time never seemed right to make a big announcement. Come and read my new old blog!)*

What’s more surprising is that more and more people keep reading. That such ruminations and pontifications linguistical and calvinistical should hold more than a passing interest is surely a matter of wonder all round – although I must say it’s lovely talking to y’all and long may the conversations continue!

______________________
* It goes without saying though, that everyone who knows me in real life should consider themselves warmly invited! Even if we’ve never discussed it in person, don’t be afraid to visit and browse freely.

It seems like I have a tendency lately to forget important dates, even those of the things I care about most. November 20, 2009 came and went, though drawing something after having not done so in a while might have been an adequate way of marking the second anniversary of Ogiue Maniax. Still it’s no Genshiken Review, and I think I should celebrate two years of writing and analyzing and making terrible puns with some panache. Seeing as how tomorrow is Stuff Your Face with Food All Day… Day… I’ll save the Thank You’s for the next post. Instead, I’ll talk about how I’ve felt the blog has changed and changed me since I began working on it.

It was over two years ago that I began to realize that I enjoyed writing, and not just any writing but the kind that is meant to inform and enlighten and to encourage others to think. I was given opportunities on both Heisei Democracy and Towards Our Memories to write a little, and from there I decided to just dive in and start my own blog. I named it after the Genshiken character Ogiue Chika, who I believe to be the most deeply complex, emotionally moving, and overall amazing character to ever appear. I intended to use the blog to record my thoughts on the mediums that I love, even if it was just a brief inkling, and to help not only others to learn but myself as well.

Being able to accurately convey my thoughts while also challenging myself to think beyond my own point of view gave me a new and different sense of confidence that what I’d experienced previously, especially when I began to see others respond, and to weigh in with their own words. This in turn would motivate my desire to write even more, and before I knew it, I had improved as both a writer and as an anime fan.

And to you my readers, though I said I would not give thanks, I have to make an exception here. Thank you for respecting my words as much as I respect yours. The comment philosophy at Ogiue Maniax is to allow all comments as long as they are relevant, as it encourages everyone to engage in dialogue and to better understand each other. And if you’re a troll you’re all the more welcome, as it gives me the opportunity to further clarify my points. At that point, it’s up to every individual reader to decide if they agree with me or not.

Ogiue Maniax, two years old. Get ready, because this baby’s starting to walk.

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• C.R. Gibson invented the first baby book in 1898, and since then families around the globe have recorded many of their happiest moments in our memory books and photo albums

CR Gibson Deluxe Photo Book, Silver 25th Anniversary Album, Overview

The 25th Wedding Anniversary Photo Book has a beautiful opalesence cover and holds 40 photos, well-wishing notes, or gift cards.Display at the 25th anniversary party with the matching guest book.Product InfoSize: 8 x 7 inches

CR Gibson Deluxe Photo Book, Silver 25th Anniversary Album, Specifications

CR Gibson WP84-4825

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Nov 25, 2009 13:02:53

HP MediaSmart Server EX495

Les 10 ans de Fatlace ont été une réussicite.

Beaucoup de monde au shop et une super ambiance.

Le lendemain c’était le Hellaflush 3, le rassemblement qu’il ne fallait pas rater.

Bon je l’ai raté.

Mais je suis sur que mon voyage en CA sera une tuerie.

get ready

Seven years ago on the 23rd, a seventeen year old Rachelle decided to try vegetarianism for a week. It was undoubtedly one of the best decisions I have ever made! I can guarantee you that as long as I’m alive, I will happily be

I have lived five delicious vegan years, as well; that, too, will not change. I become more in love with all animals as time progresses. The more I learn (about the environment; animals; problematic industries; and to question social norms), the more I value this lifestyle and evolve to change damaging, unnecessary behaviours.

Brightside Farm Sanctuary

- Rachelle

It’s wednesday, server maintenance on EU servers and allthough I’m working during the day, I consider wednesday my favorite day to read up about all the upcomming stuff in World of Warcraft. It’s the best time to check MMO Champion and WoW.com since they mostly focus on US server news as they had their maintenance a day before.

I came across a new Blizzard mini-site that they created in order to celebrate the 5th anniversary of World of Warcraft. They made a great video with interviews of all the big Warcraft boys. The founders, designers, co-writers, game masters, you name it, they are all in there. Each person get’s the opportunity to tell what’s their greatest memory about playing a warcraft game and when did they realize when Warcraft became more than just a video game. Get yourself a drink and a snack and sit down because as a WoW player, you are going to enjoy this. You can find the mini-website here.

While I was watching the video, I started to ask myself the same questions aswell. Find out what my most memorable moments are after the break.

When did I start to realize that Warcraft was something more than just a computer game?

I never really played on consoles because as a kid I wasn’t allowed to claim the television all for myself. So what was the point of buying the first playstation if you don’t have a screen to play? So most of my game life has been spent on PC. Early versions of Destruction Derby, Fifa and some other soccer management games, Earthworm Jim, Max Payne, Company of Heroes, Need for Speed, GTA 2, Age of Empires, Rome, Civilizations, Battlefield where some of the games that past before I met World of Warcraft. Not sure how old I was but I remembered that I installed a trial version of WoW with some 10 days free pass. The only thing I did was running arround in Elewyn Forrest with my priest and trying to figure out what the tutorials where trying to explain. I wasn’t able to understand enough of it to actually realize what I was playing.

Years later, I ran into Tzuké and Nelek in real life and they told me more about it and I was thrilled about the fact they were actually talking about a game and sharing their expieriences with eachother. I decided to install the game again and give it another go. A couple of weeks later I told them proudly that I allready had a lvl 17 warlock on a Horde server. Only problem was that they weren’t playing Horde and I was on the wrong realm aswell. Glad you mentioned guys, anything else?

I started to play a mage, Distefano and got him up fairly fast, even before Tzuké and Nelek hitted 70. Couple of weeks later I got asked to join Oldtimers by Drysk, a hunter who helped me in Arathi Highlands. He helped me to do some really hard quests together with his cousin (forgot the exact name but he played a rogue and is also known as Serine). That was the first time my mouth fell open upon seeing them handle their characters with such ease… So I got accepted without really knowing what a guild was for. And I continued to do my thing for another couple of months.

Actually playing the game, getting to know others aswell and hearing how they explained things, was such a nice expierience. It was a virtual world and before I entered Oldtimers I didn’t really realize there were a lot of other people playing the game. But this was huge!

What is my best in game memory?

I got invited to some occasional heroic dungeon runs but I never really got the point of why we use a tank to tank things and why can’t a healer do it? But one night, they were raiding SSC and needed to fill a spot at the final boss. I accepted without knowing what I was about to see. I got summoned and followed my guildies into the raid. Seeing a group of players standing before the boss, all waiting for the tactics and the go was just…breathtaking. Raid markings are been put up, I was assigned to one of the adds on the side wich I had to take down as fast as possible. I didn’t really get the rest of the explenation, but back than, that was all I needed to know.

We started off and everything got into motion, all adds started to move and attack people, the boss was being kept in the middle. I had only one task, smash my button while selecting circle. If he went down, I moved to square. It was an amazing moment, nowadays I would call it an epic moment. Having so many people all together into one place, trying to accomplish the same thing…that gave me thrills.

Looking back at that moment, I have to confess that WoW has become more than just a game. It’s an expierience, something beyond solo gameplay. The stories, the graphics, the characters, the questlines,… Every aspect of it has had an effect on me as person. The social aspect of the game has made me a wiser person. That’s hard to explain to people who never played the game but knowing that 11 million other people play the game aswell, that’s something special.

Playing WoW is nothing compared to the fact I am building my own place to live together with my girlfriend, or the succes at work or maybe a small version of Masiv… I’m thankfull that I am able to play this game with various people from all over the world, aswell as real life friends. I look forward to my next memorable moment I am about to face.

Photo collages can have many different purposes… they can be given as gifts, displayed at an anniversary party, birthday or memorial service. And once displayed, they become a cherished keepsake for your loved ones.

This collage is the very first one I put together. It’s centered around my Poppop Migone who we all loved very much, and being able to remember him by looking at these photos always brings a smile to my face.

This next one is of my Poppop and Grandmom Bennett… who we love very much… and looking at this collage are able to remember the wonderful life they lived.

Photo Collages can be created for any occasion and are always a fun way to display photos of friends and family or events! It’s always a great conversation piece and people adore them!

Email me at krismigo@gmail.com for more information on Photo Collages or other ideas!

Breitling is closely connected to Aviation and is world-famous as “Official Supplier of World Aviation”. The first Navitimer was released in 1952 and started a legendary watch line of Breitling. To celebrate Navitimer’s 125th anniversary, Breitling unveiled a new member – Breitling Navitimer 125th Anniversary watch earlier this Year. This watch further reflects Breitling’s constant passion for precise chronographs of sophisticated functionality. To some extent, it also shows that Breitling attaches great importance to the Navitimer line.

This new Breitling Navitimer is driven by a reliable movement – the Breitling 26 Caliber. This COSC certified movement beats at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations and has a power reserve of 42 hours. Besides hours, minutes and date(at 6), the movement provides supreme chronograph functions, including chronograph to ¼ of a second, 60-minute(at 3) and 12-hour(at 9) chronographs.

The case of Navitimer 125th Anniversary is presented on stainless steel or 18k red gold. It has equipped with slide rule bezel that allows a wide range of calculations. The steel versions has black or bronze dial while the red gold version is available in black or silver dial. All versions have a Convex sapphire crystal cover with anti-reflective coating on both sides and feature baton indexes that are meticulously polished.

Quite Noticeable is the air racer bracelet with holes. It is sturdy and masculine with a touch of simple elegance. It is unforgettable design at first sight. It greatly enhances the look of this new Navitimer and will also add something different to its wearers.

Breitling Navitimer 125th Anniversary watch, water resistant to 30 meters, is made to limited edition. The stainless steel version is available in 2,009 pieces while the red version is limited to 125 pieces.

On a night in October 1997 I went to a bar with a friend to meet up with some other friends who said they had invited their friend Moya.  Moya walked into the bar and announced to us that she had a cold and would be needing orange juice in vodka to cure her cold.  She read tarot from the contents of my wallet.  She was so dynamic and original and enigmatic and blatantly silly. I got such a crush.

A while later … On November 25, 1997, after dinner with friends, in the middle of an El Niño rainstorm, Moya and I went for a walk in the rain and ended up at a park near my house where there was fog rolling down the rock wall and a flood in the playground and we danced on soggy grass and kissed in the rain.  Thanksgiving was two days later.

My gadgets in 1997 were a cellphone, a 2way skytel pager, and a newton. I had a computer and dialup internet connection at my house.  Moya had a text pager for work and in her home there was a rotary dial phone and a cassette tape message machine and a turntable stereo and big windows.  It was the best studio apartment I ever knew.

We emailed stories to each other.  I paged text messages to her.  She paged text messages to me. It was IM/SMS for 1997. She picked me up at the office of my brand new company and took me out for dinner.  She told me stories about the moon and planets and galaxies. I asked her how far away Saturn is when she showed me her telescope. That wasn’t the point.

(with apologies to Billy Collin’s “Litany”) She is the tray and the letters, the balcony and the plants, the shot glass and the flask, the sleeping bag and the pillow.  She is not the minimalist bare wall or the question mark, she is the double dash.  She is of course the genius inventor and the naked romp in the Pacific Ocean.  She’s the native grass. I’m the palm tree. I am the seams in the sidewalk, full of grit.  She is the eye candy arm candy smoky scotch peat candy. She is a sheet of puffy clouds with a jet cutting through. She will always be the sleeping bag and the pillow, not to mention the shucker and the decanter.

I’m so thankful for the past decade+ of me and her. We are officially a tween!

The stairs of The Alexis (where Moya lived when we first met)

Lloyd Street

Happy! (not because of the parking ticket on Moya's car!)

A friend asked me whether I thought it was a good idea to live together before marriage… Here’s my take:

I know some folks who believe that it’s necessary to live together before marriage to “test out” what happens when the relationship gets real close. It’s a practice for marriage, they say. You live together, pay bills together, perhaps have some kids, make love every night and maybe, one day, actually walk down that aisle. And if it doesn’t work out, after six years of living together, you can break up! No strings attached.

Isn’t that lovely?

Actually no. You just wasted six years of good dating life on some fool who was not the “one.” Why on earth would you do that?

You shortchange yourself by living together before marriage. If you are good enough to be a sexually-close roommate, or to carry someone’s child, you are good enough to be yoked. And if you don’t want to be yoked, why are you “testing” marriage anyway? If you don’t want to have that person in your life permanently then why are you having – or fathering – their child?

Of course, this post only makes sense if you have a desire to be wed. If you have no desire to be wed, then none of this matters anyway.

However, real talk: people who live together before marriage with no clear wedding date already set are three times as likely to never marry at all. People who live together with a wedding date set for the very near future (three to four months) have a better shot at staying married. People who don’t live together until marriage have the best shot at staying together.

Let’s repeat with statistics. People who cohabitate have only a 45% chance of ever getting married. More than eight out of 10 couples who live together before marriage will break up before the wedding. Only 12% of couples who start off shacking up have a marriage that lasts longer than 10 years.

It seems easy to shack up and it’s a very non-committal way to express a commitment, but it is really good for you in the long run? Statistics would seem to point to an answer of no.

And from a personal standpoint, I believe that when you shack up you take away the magic of the first year of marriage. That first year of marriage should be getting to know each other better and intimately; learning how to split up household chores; setting up life insurance policies and wills; opening up wedding presents every weekend for the first month; picking out photos for your wedding album; arguing over who gets to write the thank you note to Aunt Francine; figuring out schedules and anniversary trips; getting excited about dressing together and showering together and cooking together and living together… But if you spend all that time on some random dude or gal that you just “test out,” what do you do when you get married?

I suppose you just skip all the stuff that’s exciting for a newlywed couple and in so doing, it’s possible that you might erase some of the “magic” of the first few years.

This is not to say that all couples who shack up have an untimely demise. I know a few folks – and have read about a lot more – who have figured out how to make cohabitation work for them. For these folks, cohabitation only works because both people are truly ok with that status. But if one person in the relationship changes their mind and wants marriage, then shacking up doesn’t work. And if that’s the case, why even put yourself into that situation?

If you want to be wed, try to avoid the shack. It’s one thing to shack because your lease ran out and your wedding is in one month. It’s a whole other thing to shack up for three years in the hopes that, one day, you’ll be married. If you want to pretend to be married, why not take the plunge and go all the way there? And if you’re not ready to go all the way there, why pretend? That’s why they call it DATING.

Today marks the 548th day that I have been married to my dear darling Kiwi.  In some ways it seems as if we have been married three months, in others seventeen years.  We’ve been through some interesting times in our 1 1/2 years.  We’ve gained independence and learned to deal with giving back some of it in order to pay back school loans.  Crash arrived, and we were faced with all of the challenges awarded to new “puppy parenting”.  We travelled to the Outer Banks to watch another beautiful marriage begin, and we’ve cuddled at home on the couch with a movie.   Through all the happy moments and the really pretty crappy moments I have always remained extremely proud to call Chris my husband.  He is the epitome of everything I’ve ever wanted in a man, and more.  Thanks for such a wonderful life, Glibby darling!  I love you!

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary…Scott and I have been married 13 yrs. (We first met about 23 yrs. ago.)  We had a wonderful anniversary.  We actually went out to dinner last night…just the two of us!! (Neither of us could remember the last time we’d done that, but we know it’s been years!! Can you believe that?! )

I’m very thankful for my husband, for our life together, and for our family.

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Scott, I love you, and I’m forever yours!!

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