Free Time Funk

If you’ve read my pages to learn more about me you know by now that I’m a gamer chick, and have been for a long time. J and I started years ago, BC. We were hooked into EverQuest, one of the first true MMORPGs. Since then we've played at EQ2, WoW, and Rift. Our longest stint has been at EQ2, where we met some amazing folks from a guild called Bane. We've been with them through many games for over seven years. The past 18 months we've been kicking pixellated butt on World of Warcraft.

Meiune, my alter ego on World of Warcraft.

 But for the past several months, I haven't been feeling the anticipation to play. It’s weird. J and I used to spend almost every night on the computers together, kicking pixilated ass as a team. I go through these bored phases once in awhile, but I usually find myself trying a new game. This time I couldn't be bothered for a good long time. The good thing about this is that I've been blogging more often.The bad news is that I am going through books like a dehydrated camel in the middle of July. It adds up.

Despite the lack of cable here, J and I decided to try and find some shows to get into. This has become another bad habit. We found Lost and went through all 6 seasons in 4 months. Each night I’d look at the clock after watching “just one more show” and it would be 3 AM. Waking up the next morning should have been a giant red flag warning to us to knock it the hell off. But sometimes we're just as bad as kids and refused to listen, even knowing we would totally regret it the following day. I've learned to hate birds chirping in the dawn hours.

If you haven't watched Lost, go get it. You'll thank me.

Then we had a month or so where we couldn’t find anything that either of us liked as much. Lost is hard to beat. But we did find Fringe and after the first few shows I was an addict. We’ve now caught up to current episodes and my impatience in having to wait once a week when I could watch four shows a night is like taking crack from an addict without warning. I find myself counting down the hours and minutes until the boys would go to sleep so I could watch my show.

I dream of alternate realities almost nightly due to this show.

I’ve also got a few other shows I can watch on Hulu that J either isn’t interested in or I would not want to watch with him owing to the fact that I couldn’t sit still and not giggle if he watched angsty vampires drooling over a female.

I would not be able to watch this with J in the same room. It's just awkward.

The past several months have been the longest where I didn't feel a pull to play. I still gamed twice a week for our raids, and I love catching up with my guildies. But I was finding myself logging off the instant a raid was done.

J and I started up a discussion a few weeks back about past games we played. We're still huge fans of anything EverQuest. The land created there feels like home away from home. But we decided to give Rift a try once more since it was so much newer. We lasted a week. And after finding myself yawn at WoW raids I bit the bullet and resubscribed to EQ2. While most Bane guildies are gone from the game, a few still exist, and we started catching up. And all of a sudden, I'm excited again. One thing EQ2 has that no other games has is player housing. You can create and decorate your own houses to your hearts content. While I'm not a domestic type of gal, I'll admit that I have a ball making aquariums out of light bulbs in the games.

Within a week of us rejoining many others have started to come back. Some have left again, while others stayed. We worked together as a team to recreate our guildhall, by gathering "money" in the pot to purchase items, or build them ourselves. And I must say we did a kick ass job.

But what's been great is the feeling of belonging again. Not that I didn't belong to my guildies in WoW or other games. But that feeling of coming home to a game I know so well, going through landscapes I've been running through for over ten years. And still finding things to do. THAT'S a huge thing for. because despite the fact this particular game has been out for years, there is always something to do. And I can't find that in other games.

So in the end, I have to say I am happy to have gone through this particularly hard gaming funk. Because while it sounds geeky, I finally came home to a place I missed without realizing it.  And maybe now, I can slow down on my book purchases. Cause J is getting a little snippy about the cost.