Our Christmas celebration gathering is coming up! mmmmm, egg nog

we are meeting in the sanctuary this time, NOT in the gym. I will need a few of you to bring cookies. Nothing fancy, no cake or dip or anything else. Since we are meeting in the sanctuary, we are keeping the food super simple–just cookies!(and egg nog of course) If you can help, email me and let me know. jbmerendon@gmail.com

I’m looking forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior with you all!

WHEN: Saturday, December 5th @ 7pm

WHERE: CHCC sanctuary

Alhamdulillah gath kukubesi vs chot touch telah berjaya di adakan. sambutan begitu mengalakkan dgn kehadiran seramai lebih 200 org. event ini akan dibuat setiap tahun. dibawah ni beberapa gambar2 yg aku sempat ambil ketika event ini berlansung.

Community: a group of independent organisms that share something in common, such as a common residential area, interest or knowledge base.

Communities are the core of every neighborhood, every small town. They’re the origin of every country, every online forum, every business hierarchy. They make up any common group of people who may or may not be otherwise completely uncommon and independent from each other. They are a social construct naturally formed by like-minded individuals, usually originally without knowledge of how their community will continue to expand.

On that note, I believe that every person in this world has the in-born ability to find a community to belong to, be it social, structural or otherwise. Many people nowadays shun others from society if they do not act at least somewhat alike (“mature”) as many others do. But who’s to say that those same people, shunned from a social community at large, can’t find a community to reside in on their own terms?

That’s where I put in my signature Unschooling Tip of the Day, or rather… few days. Because unschooling (or perhaps even many homeschooling) students are unable to partake in the constant groups and communities found in “standard” public school system, they must find communities of their own to belong in.

Everyone can belong somewhere.

I already mentioned how I take part in a homeschool group that meets regularly, since we are technically schooled from home. Well, that’s just one of the social communities I participate in. On that note, I bet you take part in more communities than you think. Go to church? That’s a community. Post on an online forum? You’ve now participated in a community. Gathered together with some family members? …You thought I was going to say “That’s a community”, didn’t you? Well, congratulations, I’m starting to become predictable to my blog readers in that case!!

But in all honesty, it’s hard for almost anyone to leave without any kind of social interaction. Even if you barely go outside at all, you probably still subconsciously clamor for human contact! A healthy being should get together and spend time with other people, and joining a community gives a sense of belonging. With the rise of homeschool groups and such, hopefully almost all homeschoolers, unschoolers, etc. will have a place to belong outside of school too now.

‘Til next time,

The Pope recently met with artists at the Sistine Chapel to talk with them about their trade, especially in relation to the Church. He focused on a few aspects:

• Their work should be spiritual, because contemporary beauty was often “illusory and deceitful”
• He wanted to “renew the Church’s friendship with art
• Beauty … can become a path toward the transcendent, toward the ultimate Mystery, toward God
• “Faith takes nothing away from your genius or art. On the contrary, it exalts them and nourishes them.”

All incredible words of wisdom from a Pontiff who understands the relationship of art to the transcendent. Over 250 guests attended out of 500 or so invitations. Such notables as Andrea Bocelli, F. Murray Abraham, Ennio Morricone were present. Imagine getting invited!

I find it especially troubling how the Church that gave us such amazing medieval and Renaissance art, sculpture, and architecture, has to renew its friendship with art. Of course, I suspect that the friendship was broken, not by the Church, but by the modern and post-modern trends in art that attempt(ed) to elevate the human spirit beyond the need for God.

I want to pursue the relationship between the Church and the artistic tradition in more detail when I have free time. That the Pope has already renewed the conversation is timely.

Image by Jonathan Bennett from Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine, Euclid, OH. To order prints or download high resolution images, click here

Had dinner with my bunch of loveliest friend on Friday.

Gossips,gossips & gossips.

Celebrated dearest mum’s birthday after that.
Happy birthday,mum.
Thanks for being the super mum who pack our room, cook for us & showering us with all the love and care.
.
.
.

Saturday, met up with dear. Was suppose to fly kite.. But apparently,.. both of us got lazy halfway .
After shopping at topshop, we called Waiho & got him to join us to mt.faber safra to play bowling.
Went up to dear’s house after that to wii & then went off for dinner.
Enjoyable day :]
If only the weekend last longer…

Philip Hackett presents the Winter Poetry Festival
at the
Piazza Market
627 Vallejo Street

on the 16th and 17th of January, Saturday and Sunday
noon to six o’clock pm

If you want to perform, it’s easy. Show up at 11:00 am on either day, and write down your name. You can read a poem, play a song, tell a story, a joke, or do something a little foolish and majorly awesome.
If you just want to come and see this GREAT AMAZING SHOW, show up sometime around noon, and we’ll all have a good time, all day.

stay tuned for December’s performance list

The next in my series of “Beginner’s Guides” for WAR:  Magical Salvaging.

This Gathering profession has had its ups and downs.  Currently, it tends to take a back seat to Scavenging simply due to the ease of that profession.  However, for those who are patient and dedicated, Magical Salvaging offers a wider variety of options as well as some much-sought-after fragments!

Enjoy!

~Gaar

Quick Explanation of Crafting in WAR

WAR has a two-stage crafting system.  The first stage is handled through a “gathering” profession and the second stage is the actual “crafting” profession.

Here’s the rundown:

Apothecary - Crafting Profession – Makes potions with various temporary effects.

• Butchering - Gathering Profession – Harvests monsters for items to use in making potions.
• Cultivation - Gathering Profession – Grows plants and fungi to use in making potions.

Talisman Making – Crafting Profession – Makes talismans that can be added to worn items to boost stats.

• Magical Salvaging – Gathering Profession – Deconstructs items for the parts to use in making talismans.
• Scavenging - Gathering Profession – Harvests players/NPCs for items to use in making talismans.

At the time this guide was created, all Gathering professions were viable for use in each of their respective Crafting professions.  However, each Crafting profession has its own pros and cons, as does each gathering profession.  It is best to understand those pros/cons before selecting your professions, however you are able to change both your Crafting and Gathering profession at any time (however at the loss of all progress).

Crafting Storage

Most of the items you will use in your crafting will be tradeable, thus can be stored not just in your own inventory, but also your Personal Bank Vault and your Guild Bank Vault.  The exception to this rule currently are the Hybrid Seeds that are looted in Tier 4.

You have two options now for storing them in your personal inventory though.  Crafting items will automatically (upon purchase/loot) go to your Crafting Item Inventory.  This is the third tab of your Backpack as shown in the picture below.

This special inventory space starts with only one bag, but you gain more bags by leveling your crafting professions.  You gain a new bag for each 100 points you earn in each profession, giving you a total of five bags when you’re done.

If you run out of space here, items will start to automatically go into your regular inventory.  Items can be moved back and forth between the two types of personal storage areas by right-clicking on them.

Finally, no discussion of Crafting Storage would be complete without mentioning the Mail System.  :p

All tradeable items can be sent back and forth between alts (alternate characters on your account) and friends, then left in your mailbox unopened for a good deal of time.  Proper mailbox use can extend your personal storage space for tradeable items infinitely.

Selecting your Crafting and Gathering Professions

As a new player, your first exposure to Crafting trainers comes in Chapter 2 of the WAR Story.  (The PvE towns in WAR are designated as Chapters and the PvE road moves you through these Chapters in sequential order.)  If you are on a Trial Account, this is the only place you can learn these professions.

Those players with subscriptions to WAR can also train in their Capital City (Altdorf or the Inevitible City).

It costs no money to train or re-train a Crafting profession.  You can change your profession at any time, however you will lose all progress you have made in that profession.

The Apothecary, Cultivator and Hedge Wizard (Talisman Making) trainers also are Merchants selling items for their respective craft.

Once you’ve made your choice, it’s time to level your profession(s).  For the sake of this guide, let’s assume you’ve made Salvaging your Gathering profession and Talisman Making your Crafting profession.

Salvaging Overview

Salvaging is the deconstruction of items (armor, weapons, jewelry) into ingredients for making Talismans.

Salvaging is another “pure” Gathering profession because there’s really just one step to it.  Take an item you have, click the Salvage icon, click the item, receive your ingredients.

Salvaging works well in both RvR and PvE, however at times it is much easier to farm PvE to obtain the items you want.  Unlike Scavenging, you won’t be flooded with items, however you have more of a choice in the items you get than the randomness of Scavenging.  Not to mention, you can Salvage every available stat with Salvaging whereas Scavenging only provides you with a small sub-set of them.

Salvaging also provides three of the four items required for Talisman Making, just as Scavenging does.  If you’re so inclined, you can sell off your extra Essences on the Auction House to supplement your income.

Must-Have Addons for Salvaging

There really is only one Addon you need to have for Salvaging:  Crafting Info Tooltip.

To be honest, it’s a must-have for all Crafting/Gathering professions.  It’s just that good.

Why?  Because it shows you the “hidden” crafting information for each item when you hover over them in your inventory.  This is invaluable information for all crafters, especially when you want to make very specific things and at maximum potency.  Understanding the information it provides is the key to being a great crafter.

Go to Curse.com and do a search for this Addon and download it.  I prefer to manually install all my Addons.  It’s not difficult.  However, if you’d rather not, you can use the Curse Client instead.  (I’m not a fan as it’s always had issues on Patch Day when the new versions of addons come out and the old ones don’t always work.)

Leveling Salvaging

Once you’ve trained Salvaging and have your Addon downloaded, it’s time to get started.

First off, go to your Abilities sheet, click on the General tab at the far right and then drag the Magical Salvaging icon to your toolbar.

Now you’re ready to start leveling.  Right off the bat, you have a choice to make.  You can choose to level only off items you loot, or you can choose to spend a little money up front to max out this first bit of skill using items from the Merchant.

I recommend the Merchant route at this stage.  Mainly because at this point it’s fairly inexpensive and very fast.  I’m going to walk you through it this way before discussing the loot-only path.

As a brand new Salvager, go to the Merchant and browse their Wares.  You’re looking for “Shattered Figurine”.  Once you find it, buy 19.  Yes, 19 exactly.  It will cost you 9 silver 50 copper up front, but you’ll be getting the bulk of this back in a moment, so don’t be afraid to spend it.

Once you have your 19 Shattered Figurines in your Crafting Inventory, click on the Magical Salvaging icon on your toolbar.  You cursor will become a miniature hammer.  Hover it over the stack of Shattered Figurines and left-click on it.  The item will deconstruct and you will either succeed or fail.  At this point though, it doesn’t really matter.  Your skill will go up regardless.  Continue doing this until the stack is completely gone and you will be at skill 20 which is the highest these items can take you.

Depending on your success rate, you will have anywhere from 2-4 Gold Dust and 15-17 Essences in your inventory.  Go ahead and sell those back to the Merchant.  The Essences command a high price so will earn you back the bulk of what you already spent.  Yay!

Now, buy 30 of the “Ruined Figurines”.  This will cost you a bit more, 37 silver 50 copper.  You will only be getting maybe 10 silver of this back.  Once you have them, go ahead and salvage them all and sell off the Gold Dust and Essences again.  You should now be at skill 50 for Salvaging.

While you could continue to bump it up slowly via the Merchant’s Ruined Figurines, at this point it’s far more economical to just level off looted items.  With your handy-dandy Addon, it’s easy to tell what’s going to be a good item to salvage to try to level with.  When you hover over the item in your inventory, it will give you a chance for success on the bottom of the tooltip.  A rating of “Difficult” is usually a guaranteed skill-up, if it succeeds.  Anything showing “Easy” is only going to give you a skill-up occasionally.  Anything marked “Trivial” will never give you a skill-up.

Note:  If you can afford to keep going with the Ruined Figurines, do it.  Until they become “Trivial”, you may as well milk them for what they’re worth and save the loot for the rest.

Second Note:  You can continue this method of “paying for leveling” indefinitely via the Auction House, however it will become very, very expensive.

For those of you who either don’t have the money or don’t want to spend it, leveling via the items you loot works in much the same manner, albeit much more slowly.

As you loot items that are green/blue/purple in rarity, go ahead and salvage them if you can’t use them.  (You cannot salvage white items, keep that in mind.)  Pay close attention to your tooltip to tell you your difficulty rating and chance of success.  You may want to save those purple items for when they’re guaranteed just so you can make a nice blue talisman for yourself.  :p

If you find that the items you’re looting are too difficult for you to salvage and/or you’re failing a lot, go back a Chapter and kill lower-level mobs/NPCs for a while and raise your salvaging until you can continue at the higher level.

As you can tell, this profession requires patience and dedication.  Leveling can be very, very slow when you’re doing it via loot which is how most do it.

Just like with Butchering and Scavenging, you will not hit skill 200 in Salvaging without entering Tier 4.  You will need to salvage the high-level loot to finish off your skill, so there’s no need to be in a hurry.

Advanced Salvaging

Once you’ve leveled your Salvaging skill to 200, you’re ready to learn more!

The best thing to do is to go to the following web sites and read up on the information they have to offer.  They are also places you can ask for more information on things that you aren’t sure about.

Also, don’t forget to use your in-game Advice channel as well!

Official Forums for Salvaging

Warhammer Alliance Forums for Salvaging

Dear All…

Trading yang baik itu adalah trading yang terencana.  Terencana dalam membeli.  Terencana dalam menjual.  Untuk itu, membuat sebuah trading plan adalah sesuatu yang sebenarnya ‘wajib’ bagi seorang trader, untuk bisa tetap survive dalam kondisi market seperti apapun.

Jadi, bersama ini saya menawarkan untuk melakukan Small Gathering khusus bagi para trader yang ingin mengetahui lebih dalam mengenai bagaimana ‘Cara Membuat sebuah Trading Plan dengan menggunakan Technical Analysis Tools yang Sederhana’.  Sebuah cara yang saya gunakan setiap hari ini untuk membuat ‘CheatSheet’ seperti yang biasa anda nikmati.

Detail mengenai pelaksanaan acara ini adalah sebagai berikut:

Hari & Tanggal     :    Sabtu, 5 Desember 2009

Waktu                  :   9.30 – 14.00

Tempat                :   Hotel Santika, Jl. AIPDA KS Tubun, Jakarta

Materi                  :  Basic Technical Analysis, Suport, Resisten, Trend, Fibonacci Retracement, Trading Psychology, dan Mengintip Outlook 2010.

Investasi            :  Rp 500.000 (lima ratus ribu Rupiah) per peserta, untuk Copy Materi, Cofee break, dan Lunch.

Mengingat kami ingin agar ‘transfer of knowledge’-nya bisa berjalan, maka dengan sangat menyesal, kami akan membatasi jumlah peserta hanya sebanyak minimal 10 orang hingga maksimal 20 orang (namanya juga small gathering gitu loh..hehehe).  Jadi, bagi anda berminat, anda bisa menghubungi kami melalui media berikut:

Telpon   :   021 70098756 atau 08161377707

Email     :    analisteknikal@gmail.com

Demikian atas perhatiannya saya ucapkan terima kasih.

Happy trading, semoga untung!!!

Perencana Trading

*buruan daftar bo… seat-nya cuman sedikit!

The next in my series of “Beginner’s Guides” for WAR:  Butchering.

This Gathering profession recently got a lot of love and had a few of its fundamentals changed, so, Trial player or Veteran, it’s a good time to take a look at it.

Enjoy!

~Gaar

Quick Explanation of Crafting in WAR

WAR has a two-stage crafting system.  The first stage is handled through a “gathering” profession and the second stage is the actual “crafting” profession.

Here’s the rundown:

Apothecary - Crafting Profession – Makes potions with various temporary effects.

• Butchering - Gathering Profession – Harvests monsters for items to use in making potions.
• Cultivation - Gathering Profession – Grows plants and fungi to use in making potions.

Talisman Making – Crafting Profession – Makes talismans that can be added to worn items to boost stats.

• Magical Salvaging – Gathering Profession – Deconstructs items for the parts to use in making talismans.
• Scavenging - Gathering Profession – Harvests players/NPCs for items to use in making talismans.

At the time this guide was created, all Gathering professions were viable for use in each of their respective Crafting professions.  However, each Crafting profession has its own pros and cons, as does each gathering profession.  It is best to understand those pros/cons before selecting your professions, however you are able to change both your Crafting and Gathering profession at any time (however at the loss of all progress).

Crafting Storage

Most of the items you will use in your crafting will be tradeable, thus can be stored not just in your own inventory, but also your Personal Bank Vault and your Guild Bank Vault.  The exception to this rule currently are the Hybrid Seeds that are looted in Tier 4.

You have two options now for storing them in your personal inventory though.  Crafting items will automatically (upon purchase/loot) go to your Crafting Item Inventory.  This is the third tab of your Backpack as shown in the picture below.

This special inventory space starts with only one bag, but you gain more bags by leveling your crafting professions.  You gain a new bag for each 100 points you earn in each profession, giving you a total of five bags when you’re done.

If you run out of space here, items will start to automatically go into your regular inventory.  Items can be moved back and forth between the two types of personal storage areas by right-clicking on them.

Finally, no discussion of Crafting Storage would be complete without mentioning the Mail System.  :p

All tradeable items can be sent back and forth between alts (alternate characters on your account) and friends, then left in your mailbox unopened for a good deal of time.  Proper mailbox use can extend your personal storage space for tradeable items infinitely.

Selecting your Crafting and Gathering Professions

As a new player, your first exposure to Crafting trainers comes in Chapter 2 of the WAR Story.  (The PvE towns in WAR are designated as Chapters and the PvE road moves you through these Chapters in sequential order.)  If you are on a Trial Account, this is the only place you can learn these professions.

Those players with subscriptions to WAR can also train in their Capital City (Altdorf or the Inevitible City).

It costs no money to train or re-train a Crafting profession.  You can change your profession at any time, however you will lose all progress you have made in that profession.

The Apothecary, Cultivator and Hedge Wizard (Talisman Making) trainers also are Merchants selling items for their respective craft.

Once you’ve made your choice, it’s time to level your profession(s).  For the sake of this guide, let’s assume you’ve made Butchering your Gathering profession and Apothecary your Crafting profession.

Butchering Overview

Butchering is just what it sounds like: chopping up “animals” to get ingredients to make potions with.

Butchering is what I refer to as a “pure” Gathering profession in that there is just one real stage to it.  Once an animal is dead, you butcher it and loot the ingredients.  No other work is required.

Butchering has just had a revamp that has made it far more viable as a Gathering profession to use with Apothecary.  It’s not as RvR-friendly as Cultivating though as you are not able to butcher players.  You can butcher their pets though, so you do occasionally get something in RvR, it’s just not a viable way to gain ingredients.

Butchering is very much a “farming” profession.  Whether you’re solo or with friends, you’ll really have to have the patience and endurance to kill hundreds, if not thousands, of animals repeatedly to really mass-produce what you want.  That being said, there are lots of areas one can solo-kill creatures in large amounts (example:  Public Quests, Land of the Dead, etc).

Note:  Because Butchering is a “farming” profession, it’s also a great source of income.  The loot you receive from the monsters, as well as excess ingredients you don’t need, can be sold to either NPC Merchants or other players to make money.

Good butchers are very knowledgeable about their craft.  They have to be since different animals drop different ingredients.  Knowing which drops what and where the best places to farm are almost trade secrets of butchering, albeit ones many are willing to share due to the perseverance required to truly dominate the butchering market.

Lastly, Butchering provides the Pigments required to make some much-sought-after Dyes: six of the Dark series of Dyes.  Previously, these were only available one at a time from certain quests, so these are a very welcome addition to the profession.

Must-Have Addons for Butchering

There really is only one Addon you need to have for Butchering:  Crafting Info Tooltip.

To be honest, it’s a must-have for all Crafting/Gathering professions.  It’s just that good.

Why?  Because it shows you the “hidden” crafting information for each item when you hover over them in your inventory.  This is invaluable information for all crafters, especially when you want to make very specific things and at maximum potency.  Understanding the information it provides is the key to being a great crafter.

Go to Curse.com and do a search for this Addon and download it.  I prefer to manually install all my Addons.  It’s not difficult.  However, if you’d rather not, you can use the Curse Client instead.  (I’m not a fan as it’s always had issues on Patch Day when the new versions of addons come out and the old ones don’t always work.)

Leveling Butchering

Once you’ve trained the Butchering profession and have your Addon downloaded and in the right folder, it’s time to go out and kill some stuff!

Really.  It’s that easy.

Note:  Make sure the animal’s level is close to your own.  You can level off animals up to five levels below you, however keeping the level at or above your own will also get you more regular experience to help you level your Rank along with Butcherings.  Killing things far weaker than you doesn’t help you level, but it will still provide you with ingredients, just ones appropriate to that level.

Once you’ve got your animal good and dead, loot it completely.  Once done, you’ll see flies appear over the dead body (if it’s butcher-able that is).  The animation makes it really easy to see if what you’re killing is something you can butcher.

Move your cursor over the dead body and it will turn into a meat cleaver.  hehe.  Right-Click to butcher it and be sure to loot it all.  Certain creatures will even allow you to butcher them multiple times now which makes it both easier to level as well as easier to obtain large amounts of ingredients since it now requires fewer kills.

Once you’ve taken everything you can from the body, it disappears completely.

One thing to keep in mind is that leveling Butchering will be a slow process if you’re truly picking it up as a new player in Tier 1.  This is because your skill raises based on the level of creatures you’re killing/butchering.  You won’t reach 200 Butchering without killing animals in Tier 4.

Sample Butchering Drop List

As previously stated, part of being a good Butcher is knowing which items you get where.  Here’s a small list to help you on your way!

• Bats – Force Shield and Restoration ingredients
• Bears – Strength and Invigoration ingredients
• Birds – Ballistic Skill and Glue Bomb ingredients
• Boars – Restoration and Strength ingredients
• Canines – Invigoration and Willpower ingredients
• Daemon Beasts – Resist potion ingredients
• Dragons – Toughness and Molotov ingredients
• Felines – Willpower and Ballistic Skill ingredients
• Insects & Arachnids – Armor and Toughness ingredients
• Magical Beasts – Healing and Thorn ingredients
• Reptiles – Molotov and Thorn ingredients
• Rodents – Glue Bomb and Intelligence ingredients
• Squigs – Healing and Intelligence ingredients

Advanced Butchering

Once you’ve leveled your Butchering skill to 200, you’re ready to learn more!

The best thing to do is to go to the following web sites and read up on the information they have to offer.  They are also places you can ask for more information on things that you aren’t sure about.

Also, don’t forget to use your in-game Advice channel as well!

Official Forums for Butchering

Warhammer Alliance Forums for Butchering

I walk into my house at 4:00 a.m. and put my camera equipment up, I think about going to bed. But I can’t. The moment I just experienced in my life was just to monumental for me to just sleep. What I experienced was an intense love for Texas A&M, family, and the values this university holds.

For those who didnt know, Aggies gathered this morning at 2:42 at the Bonfire Memorial on campus to remember the fallen from the collapse and to pay respect to them and their families. I started the experience when I drove through campus towards the memorial and I watched hundreds of Aggies all walking quietly and coming together. I got out my car and walked up to the candle lighting line and talked with a few people and watched people for a while all light their candles from a few candles on a picnic table set up. I walked up over the hill and what I saw took me a while to comprehend. I not only saw the entire inner ring filled with Aggies but a good portion outside the ring. We all stood in silence and I walked to the back to get a few photos. As I stood in the back a hymn broke out from the crowd and we all put our voices together and sang. From there we all said the Lord’s Prayer then the crowd lifted their candles and voiced the Aggie War Hymn.

After that had finished a man’s voice lifted over the crowd and he spoke for a few moments, encouraging Aggies, especially current students, to keep the spirit alive by showing up to silver taps, saying howdy, and living out the traditions at Texas A&M. These very things are what makes Texas A&M the greatest university in the world, and we need to keep them going. He finished his remembrance speech with this quote, “the Aggie Spirit built bonfire, the bonfire did not build the Aggie Spirit”.

I stood their in the cold wind and when I heard that, I didn’t shiver because of the temperature but because of the words. Aggies, this university has something very special and you don’t need me to tell you that. We have a heart and a family like no other. Live out daily the core values (Excellence, Integrity, Leadership, Loyalty, Respect, and Selfless Service) and be what makes this university so incredibly great. Tonight I felt like I was a part of something that was extremely loving and respectful, something that is strongly united. Be proud Aggies of what we have!

Okay everyone, I also made a video, something that’s  a little new for me. I hope you enjoy it.

With the flood of new Trial Accounts in WAR due to the new “Endless Trial”, there has also come a flood of questions in Region and Advice about all aspects of WAR.

Now, while basic information for just about every aspect of WAR can be found online if one goes and looks for it, it is very rarely all found in one spot.

I hate that.  I love one-stop-shopping.

Soooo…here is the first of a series of “Beginner’s Guides” for WAR:  Cultivation.

Enjoy!

~Gaar

Quick Explanation of Crafting in WAR

WAR has a two-stage crafting system.  The first stage is handled through a “gathering” profession and the second stage is the actual “crafting” profession.

Here’s the rundown:

Apothecary - Crafting Profession – Makes potions with various temporary effects.

• Butchering - Gathering Profession – Harvests monsters for items to use in making potions.
• Cultivation - Gathering Profession – Grows plants and fungi to use in making potions.

Talisman Making – Crafting Profession – Makes talismans that can be added to worn items to boost stats.

• Magical Salvaging - Gathering Profession – Deconstructs items for the parts to use in making talismans.
• Scavenging - Gathering Profession – Harvests players/NPCs for items to use in making talismans.

At the time this guide was created, all Gathering professions were viable for use in each of their respective Crafting professions.  However, each Crafting profession has its own pros and cons, as does each gathering profession.  It is best to understand those pros/cons before selecting your professions, however you are able to change both your Crafting and Gathering profession at any time (however at the loss of all progress).

Crafting Storage

Most of the items you will use in your crafting will be tradeable, thus can be stored not just in your own inventory, but also your Personal Bank Vault and your Guild Bank Vault.  The exception to this rule currently are the Hybrid Seeds that are looted in Tier 4.

You have two options now for storing them in your personal inventory though.  Crafting items will automatically (upon purchase/loot) go to your Crafting Item Inventory.  This is the third tab of your Backpack as shown in the picture below.

This special inventory space starts with only one bag, but you gain more bags by leveling your crafting professions.  You gain a new bag for each 100 points you earn in each profession, giving you a total of five bags when you’re done.

If you run out of space here, items will start to automatically go into your regular inventory.  Items can be moved back and forth between the two types of personal storage areas by right-clicking on them.

Finally, no discussion of Crafting Storage would be complete without mentioning the Mail System.  :p

All tradeable items can be sent back and forth between alts (alternate characters on your account) and friends, then left in your mailbox unopened for a good deal of time.  Proper mailbox use can extend your personal storage space for tradeable items infinitely.

Selecting your Crafting and Gathering Professions

As a new player, your first exposure to Crafting trainers comes in Chapter 2 of the WAR Story.  (The PvE towns in WAR are designated as Chapters and the PvE road moves you through these Chapters in sequential order.)  If you are on a Trial Account, this is the only place you can learn these professions.

Those players with subscriptions to WAR can also train in their Capital City (Altdorf or the Inevitible City).

It costs no money to train or re-train a Crafting profession.  You can change your profession at any time, however you will lose all progress you have made in that profession.

The Apothecary, Cultivator and Hedge Wizard (Talisman Making) trainers also are Merchants selling items for their respective craft.

Once you’ve made your choice, it’s time to level your profession(s).  For the sake of this guide, let’s assume you’ve made Cultivation your Gathering profession and Apothecary your Crafting profession.

Cultivation Overview

Cultivation is just what it sounds like:  the growing of plants/fungi to produce ingredients for making potions.

Despite being classified as a “Gathering” profession, Cultivation is very much like a “Crafting” profession.  You start with one type of item, add things to it, and end up with an entirely new item.  However, because the item you create is a sub-component used in an actual “Crafting” profession, it remains just a unique form of “Gathering” profession.

Cultivation is a very popular Gathering profession because it can be done anywhere and at any time.  You can even do it while in the middle of RvR or while completing a Dungeon.  Despite Cultivating taking “time” to do, it’s ability to be done constantly makes it the most time-efficient of the Gathering professions.

Cultivation has the possiblity to be a very, very space intensive profession.  There are sixteen “basic” seeds and twelve Hybrid seeds.  The basic seeds have different versions for levels 1, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175 and 200.  If you choose to just keep the level 200 seeds, you’ll need 28 slots just for stacks of seeds.  If you choose to keep all levels, you’ll need 156 slots for stacks of seeds.  That’s where good space-management comes in.  If you don’t craft for your entire Guild, the Auction House,  and/or alts, just keep the level 200s and you’ll be fine.  Additionally, you can just keep the seeds for the potions you use and get rid of the rest as well.  (I suggest mail storage or using an alt, but that’s just me.)

As an added bonus, Cultivation has a chance to also produce Pigments used to create certain Dyes for your armor.  At this time though, Butchering has access to Pigments that produce the harder-to-find Dyes whereas Cultivation’s Pigments aren’t as sought after.

Plots and Stages

To start Cultivating, go to your Abilities menu, click the General tab on the far right and drag the Cultivating icon to your toolbar.  Once there, press it to open the Cultivating window.

As a brand-new Cultivator, you will have access to two of your four available plots.  As you level, you will unlock more plots to use which not only provides you with more resources, but also speeds up your leveling!

Each plot has four spots for adding items.  The main one is for your seed/spore.  The other three are for your Additives. There are three kinds of Additives: Soil, Watering Can, and Nutrient.  The Additives are adding during specific Stages of the cultivation process.

The first Stage is Germination where Soil can be added.  Soil both reduces the time it takes to grow your seed/spore as well as giving you a bonus to your Critical Chance when cultivating.

The second Stage is Seedling where Watering Can can be added.  Watering Cans reduce both the time it takes to grow your seed/spore as well as giving you a bonus to your Special Chance when cultivating.

The third Stage is Flowering where Nutrient can be added.  Nutrients reduce both the time it takes to grow your seed/spore as well as reducing your chance to fail.

Once all those stages are done, you can now Harvest your grown plant/fungus.

Note:  The Uproot button.  Yes, it’s there.  No, you have no reason to ever use it.  So don’t.

Second Note:  You really don’t need to use Additives at all.  Sure, they can speed up your growth and leveling, but ultimately they’re not needed.  If you’re in a hurry and have excess money, go for it.  If not, just pop the seed in and go back to whatever you were doing.

Must-Have Addons for Cultivation

There are two must-have Addons as a cultivator: Crafting Info Tooltip and Miracle Grow Remix.

These two Addons will not only make your life easier, they’ll make you love Cultivating since it will become so very, very easy.

I’ll explain why you want Miracle Grow Remix in a later section, but I’ll pause here for a moment to talk about Crafting Info Tooltip.

To be honest, it’s a must-have for all Crafting/Gathering professions.  It’s just that good.

Why?  Because it shows you the “hidden” crafting information for each item when you hover over them in your inventory.  This is invaluable information for all crafters, especially when you want to make very specific things and at maximum potency.  Understanding the information it provides is the key to being a great crafter.

Go to Curse.com and do a search for both of these and download them.  I prefer to manually install all my Addons.  It’s not difficult.  However, if you’d rather not, you can use the Curse Client instead.  (I’m not a fan as it’s always had issues on Patch Day when the new versions of addons come out and the old ones don’t always work.)

I’m going to assume you downloaded them for the rest of the guide because, frankly, you should.  Consider it a requirement.  They’re THAT good.

Stocking up on Seeds

Hands down the easiest way to get the full stock of your sixteen basic seeds is to just buy them from the guy that just trained you.  They sell for between 1-2 silver a piece.  Usually buying 3-4 of each is more than enough as you’ll make more during the cultivation process.

Alternately, you can buy them from other Tier 1 Merchants.  Same price, same idea.

If you really don’t want to buy the seeds, you may be in the wrong profession.  hehe.  However, there is one route left to you.  In each Tier there is a wandering quest-giver that will give you a repeatable quest for one type of seed.  You won’t get your full spectrum of seeds this way, but it’s free and you can level this way and then beg/buy the level 200s you want later.

Leveling Cultivation

Once you have at least one Seed/Spore (and your Addons!), you’re ready to level Cultivation.

Before starting, if you can’t see your Miracle Grow window, type /mg show.  Once you see it, right-click on it and choose Configure.  Slide down the first page to the “Automatic Reaping” heading, check the box to reserve seeds and set it to how many you have.  (When leveling, I tend to keep mine at 4.  Just make sure it’s more than 2 as you can fail and lose your seeds easily.)  Once done, hit Apply and close the window.

Using your Miracle Grow window, click the left box and select the seed/spore you want and then do it again for your second plot.

Once the plant is grown, Miracle Grow will flash for you to let you know to restart it.  Click the far-right buttons for each plot to just re-grow your last type of seed.

As you level, you’ll get different items from the Harvest process based on what happens.

• A regular Harvest will get you two of the plant/fungus you were trying to grow.
• A Critical Success upon Harvest will get you three of the plant/fungus you were trying to grow.
• A Critical Failure upon Harvest will get you a Wilted Weed which is junk.
• A Special Moment upon Harvest will get you three of the plant/fungus you were trying to grow, 1 of the plant/fungus a level above it and one Pigment for making Dyes.

Now, what’s happening behind the scenes here needs to be understood.  Miracle Grow is doing multiple things for you automatically.  It’s managing the Stages of growth, Harvesting your items, Reaping your items to maintain your seed/spore count, and then re-planting to continue your leveling.  Of these things, Reaping is what we haven’t discussed but is incredibly important.

Reaping is normally done by Control-Right-Clicking the plant/fungus.  What it does is it breaks that item down into a seed/spore of that type while also producing a Resin.  This is important for three reasons.  First, it’s an almost limitless source of seeds of the same level for you.  Second, Resins are used in the Apothecary process as a Stabilizer.  Third, and most important for leveling, it allows you to Reap the plants of the next higher level that you receive from Special moments.  This is how you get your higher level seeds to continue the leveling process.

As you obtain the next level of plants/fungi, Reap them for the seeds/spores you need to keep leveling and just keep repeating this process until you hit 200 skill in Cultivation.

Advanced Cultivation

Once you’ve leveled your Cultivation skill to 200, you’re ready to learn more!

The best thing to do is to go to the following web sites and read up on the information they have to offer.  They are also places you can ask for more information on things that you aren’t sure about.

Also, don’t forget to use your in-game Advice channel as well!

Official Forums for Cultivation

Warhammer Alliance Forums for Cultivation

I attended NERFA for the third time this past weekend. As you can see from the vlog, I had a wonderful time, performing, learning, listening and connecting with so many amazing people.

JPB Vlog for 2009 NERFA Music Conference
Featuring Music Performed and/or written by:
Jeffrey Paul Bobrick http://www.ilovejpb.com
Lucky 13 http://www.lucky13.fm
Gathering Time http://www.gatheringtimetrio.com
Pesky J. Nixon http://www.peskyjnixon.com
Don McLean http://www.don-mclean.com
Justin Rutledge http://www.justinrutledge.com

Extra special thanks to my NERFA friends who have supported me at these events, including:
Kathy Sands-Boehmer http://meandthee.org/index.html
Joanne Melosh Dezego and Steve Dezego http://www.gardenstage.com/
Brad Yoder http://www.bradyoder.com/

Okaaayyy!
Apakah readers sekalian sudah pada tahu kalau pada tgl 15 November yang lalu, ELF se-Jatim mengadakan superbig gathering di kota Malang? Yang iklannya bisa kalian lihat di KI beberapa waktu lalu?
Untuk yang sudah tahu tapi tidak bisa datang atau belum tahu sama sekali, lets take a look mengenai jalannya acara, chingu-deul!
*mian, foto2 belum ada…nunggu panitia-nya ngupload*

Gathering tanggal 15 lalu, bertajuk COVAELF (Companions of East Java Elf), sebetulnya terbuka untuk siapa aja, di mana aja, nggak kudu di Jawa Timar kok. Hajimaannn,, yah, meski yang dateng kebanyakan memang dari Malang sekitarnya sih. Dan, finally, I found 2 fanboys thereee!! Yippieee!!
Nah, panitia, yang sebagian besar udah kenalan di Sj-World, forsujuindo dan Gath I dan II mengadakan acara ini untuk merayakan ultah SJ yang ke-4. Jadi ada makan2 kue tart segala…hohoho…

Acara dimulai jam 9 teett. Tapi aku datang setengah jam sebelumnya *kerajinan hehe* Habiss… aku sendirian di sana chingu, dan ngga punya kenalan sapa-sapa. Jadi, datang kepagian berguna juga buat sok2 salaman, cari kenalan dan tanya2 nama *meski sekarang udah lupa lagi*

Kesan pertama : wuidiiihh… baju mereka pada keren2 chingu! Pada pake kaos berbau SJ semua, karena dresscode-nya kan biru atau putih. Untung aja aku punya cadangan kaos SUsHow II, jadi ngga kelelep2 amat lah di tengah2 white-blue ocean.

Jumlah peserta total sebesaar 185 orang, yang dibagi ke dalam 12 tim. Nama tim berasal dari lagu2 SJ kayak Sorry sorry, Yoriwang, Marry U, U, Miracle, Super Girl dll deh… dan kebetulan aku dapet grup superbersahabat bernama It’s U ^^.
Awal2 acara, diajarin salam-nya ELF. Anybody knows?

Urineun ELF-yeyoooo!! *sambil nyodorin telapak tangan ke depan*

Sesi pertama, selama 30 menit, kita disuruh ngarang yel-yel dan menghapal nama anggota seregu. Seruuuu banget. Yel-yel dari 12 kelompok keren2 dan lucu2.

Sesi kedua, DANCE BATTLE.
Tiba-tiba aja nih, segerombolan cewek2 muncul ke tengah panggung dan nari SorrySorry kereeenn banget. Sampe ekspresi-ekspresi-nya segalaaa
Habis ituh, ada dance battle antar tim dance, ngga tau korslet ato apa, lagu Ring Ding Dong yang harusnya jadi backsound mati. Eeehhh… penonton malah nyanyiin full, sampe ke-rap-rap-an segala. Neomu meotjida pokoknya.

Trus ada games SUJU Song Challenge. Jadi dikasih cuplikan lagu, dan suruh nebak judulnya. Antar tim sih ini, tapi aku udah ngibrit duluan. Masalah lagu2 suju, aku akuin, aku gaptek total deh.

And next, is the top of the top. Puncak acara, potong kue dan nyanyi Saengil Chukahamnida buat uri Suju oppa-deul yang ke-empat. Seruuu !!!

Daum, adalah saatnya ishoma untuk menikmati snack, sholat, istirahat de-el-el. Saat2 begitu aku iseng2 ngedeketain panitia… “Onnie, kaos Covaelf-nya pesen dimana? Onnie, sepatunya beli dimana? Onnie, kaos kaki SJ-nya berapaan?”
~__~” yeah, I know malu2in…

Next session, games lagi. *banyak games sih,,tapi aku inget yang ada aku-nya doang*
Cepet2an maju ke panggung, terus dikasih pertanyaan. Sebutkan nama2 SoNyeo Junior!
DDANG! Hapal gitu? Aku sih modal nekat aja, angkat tangan. “Engg…MaYuri..eh, Ma Shiwon ding! Eh eh, MaYuri apa Ma Shiwon sih?” Trus bengong…hehehehe akhirnya gugur.
Pemenangnya lupa dapet apaan.

Terus, Ketua Pelaksana-nya, mamerin doorprize CD SJM SuperGirl Album asli dari Korea.
Semua peserta langsung histeris. Aku lumayan histeris. Tapi semangat lagi, boleh dong yah punya CD double?
Habis itu ada game kayak di Happy Camp yang cepet2an duduk di kursi itu lho. Pesertanya diambil berdasarkan kelereng yang diambil. Yang dapet sapphire blue, silahkan ikut. And…I got it agaaaiinnn!!

Karena aku pikir hadiahnya CD SJM, apapun caranya, gimanapun, I have to win! It’s a must! Ronde pertama, ronde kedua, ketiga, keempat lewattt…aman. Aku masih bertahan. Ronde terakhir, dimana kursinya cuma satu diperebutin 2 orang aku bener2 was2. Bener2 merhatiin kapan lagu berhenti, dan aku harus duduk! Tapi gara2 disuruh menjauh dari kursi 1 meter dan joget2 dulu…aku pasrah. Gapapalah kalah, toh udah punya tuh CD, biarin deh dikasih ke yang belom punya…

Backsound Rokkugo berkumandang…tapi aku malah nari SuperGirl *error kan yee?*
Cewek sainganku kayaknya udah nervous-panik-cemas-gelisah-keringat dingin deh, sementara aku dengan santainya ber-sorry sorry ria *padahal jelas2 Rokkugo tuh backsound-nya*

And…HAP! Musik berhenti. Aku merem. Gatau deh, menang ato kalah. Pokoknya duduk. Pas buka mata… si cewek saingan udah terjengkang jauuh banget di depan panggung. Ya Tuhan. Dia sampe keleleran saking kecewanya.
I won! Daebak! Jjang! Himnae! Dengan dukungan “fighting-saranghaeyo-ayoshiari” dari tim It’s U…aku berbinar2 *udah kayak dapet award ajah gituh*

Pas penyerahan hadiah, kukira CD, ternyata bukan

Afterwards, ada pemenang yel-yel terbaik dan the best supporter. Nominasi ke dua dimenangkan oleh grup It’s U. Yaiyalahh…tiap kali aku maju mereka setiaaa banget teriak “Go Ayo Go Ayo. Ayoshiari Fightiiinng!”
About CD, CD-nya bener2 diundi. Pas nomor undian diundi, keluarlah sebuah nomor peserta. Aku udah berdoa nih…nega…nega…nega…nega…
Ternyata bukan T____T

Wa,,beruntung banget tuh ELF yang dapet. ELF laennya sampe ngiri puooll. Hehehehe.
Habis closing, selesai deh acara. Aku ma grup-ku peluk2an ngga mau pisah saking pengen ketemu lagiii. Huhuhu…

Akhirnya, lewat acara ini, sama admin forum, blog, reporter koreanindo, temen2 yang cuma kenalan di facebook, bahkan yang tau dari message grup FB ternyata satu kelompok ^^
Berangkat dari rumah dengan tangan kosong, pulang2 tau2 bawa souvenir, notes, kalender, poster, mug, pin, teman2 baru dan kebersamaan antar ELF yang menyatu banget.

Makanya, pantes aja sih Eeteuk oppa bilang yang jadi istriku kudu ELF. ELF itu luar biasa banget. Super Junior jadi begini kan juga gara2 ELF. I’m proud to be ELF.

Sayang, gara2 panitia gak bilang, selesai closing langsung ngibrit pulang. Padahal ada sesi foto2 !!! Gara2 hujan badai sih,,pulang2 aku langsung kena flu *tarik ingus*

Neomu haengbokhada deh. So, chingu-deul, kalo ada gathering2 gituuu ikut aja. Berguna banget deehhh buat kelangsungan hidup Anda di masa mendatang !

edit : ini sesi curhat colongan, bukan laporan. Plus beberapa perubahan, demi menjaga imej misterius.
*dilempar sandal sama admin*

Shared by : ayoshiari@STI

Jallianwala Bagh is one of the most important places in the history of Indian Independence. It was a normal gathering place for recreation until 1919, but on 13^th April 1919 this peaceful squire witnessed the most brutal massacre from the British rule. Jallianwala Bagh is just 400 meter north of golden temple.  90 years ago on the Baisakhi festival, this is a holiday in Sikh Calendar. Thousands of pilgrims who visited Amritsar golden temple gathered in Jallianwala Bagh in the evening to celebrate Baisakhi. General Dyer and his troops blocked the narrow entrance which was the only way in and out of Jallianwala Bagh and open fire without any warning. Justifying the British has banned meetings, demonstrations and mass gatherings. The notorious massacre resulted in the death of 379 innocent pilgrims and almost 1200 where wounded. Today it is a memorial park with a huge memorial built in the center of this beautiful garden. A part of the ruined wall is kept to show the bullet holes. Amritsar has an airport and a railway station and several hotels and resorts for tourists to come, stay and study a chapter in Indian History.

I am happy, for today.

Even though at some point of time,…

this boy really irritate the hell out of me by playing psp non-stop!

But having his company for the whole day makes my day
He joined my family bbq at pasir ris.
We went EHUB to play & i persuaded him to take neoprints with me.
HAHAHA

Headed back to the bbq to join my family.
Ate & played with my cousins.
Lots of camwhore,laughters + fun.
And like wow,.. someone can play the guitar.
:]
I’ve always wanted someone to play the guitar & sing to me…
So it was like,really sweet!




Dad fetched him home at about 9:15?
Mum had a random decision about going to Marina Barrage.. So yeap.. Last photo, i promise!

After alighting bf,..
we went to see the lightings at Mt.Faber.
Saw something that should not be seen..
Yeayea.
HATE TWO-TIMERS.
then,..
went orchard to see the lightings & finally.. Home.

I hope tomorrow will be a happy day too..
I am getting nervous over tomorrow practical test…
:<
Shall go to bed now!
GOOD NIGHT,earthlings!

I led a retreat this past week end at the Hazelden Renewal Center in MN.  The topic was Cultivating Hope In All Our Affairs.  Twenty-eight of us gathered and gently moved forward in our thinking, our personal explorations, our willingness to be intimately vulnerable and open to the vulnerabilities of others.  It was miraculous, really.  I have discovered that these kinds of week ends are always miraculous, in fact, because perceptions become changed.  You can see it happening.  You can feel the shift occurring.  And you can see the body language relaxing, as participants settle into their willingness to help others heal as they, in turn, heal too.  Every gathering can serve as a blessing.  Every gathering.  Even those we dread.  Perhaps those are the ones that bless us the most, in fact.  Perhaps we may not see it at first.  We may deny it.  But we are always being “called to” the gathering we find ourselves in.  Trusting that there is a reason for our presence lessens our resistance.  Deciding to believe that “this we experience now has been selected on our behalf,” offers us comfort and relief.  We will never be lead to a place where the God of our understanding hasn’t also come.  Look around at your next gathering and be grateful for “the invitation.”