So I've never had a laptop until now. Kinda cool.

The guy who took care of the transaction when I bought it sounded all jealous. But it is an "Envy" after all. It looks pretty fancy, all chromey silver with this lacey overlay pattern on it.

I've named her Kirin :) cause my desktop is Saboteur, named after Seventeen. And the Kirin is Archana's anima. I know that sounds really dorky but I never said I was normal. ;)

Slight downside, I had to deal with crappy bank issues when I went to pay for Kirin. Wasn't expecting to have to go through the elaborate verification. It was embarrassing being put through all the questioning and stuck on hold till I could pay, but I guess that's the security measures of today acting up. I DID pay a good amount of $$$ for this.

So far it's worth it but I've yet to install something that'd truly test this machine. :D Still a lot of other things to install (like IRC, AIM and DR, lolol), and also need to buy me a laptop bag and some ear buds. All in good time!

I ended up having to go to sleep because of aforementioned headaches. But I was woken up a few hours ago because Talli was summoned along with Alexsei and other members of the White Rose by General Zukir of Zoluren. I was groggy and kinda freaking out, but it turned out to be a good thing: Talli and Alexsei were both awarded for their recent service in the Naarg invasions.

Getting awarded by a GMPC is a new thing to me, so poor Talli was pretty stiff and awkward in accepting it. I've never done anything in DR with an expectation of reward, so it was a touching and humbling gesture. I was especially glad for how good it looked for the White Rose!

Sure it's not the real world, but making a difference still makes one feel accomplished. Especially when it can be challenging to do so as a PC in Zoluren, where it can be difficult to get people to agree and work together on anything. Now if only I could take that energy and communication skill and do something real with it!

I'm thinking of recreating Talliska's journal, 'cause I feel kind of dorky nowadays writing about her accomplishments in an OOC journal. As it stands, I really badly need to rearrange the tags here; it's become bloated with 1000+ nodes. Oh well, some day...

Tuesday night in Dragonrealms was the end of the Naarg event in Zoluren, so my entire night was taken up by participating in it (as Talliska). I think I'm really getting a taste for scouting / intelligence during invasions. I actually had fun, despite not being a fan of Naarg and all the crazy babble he inspired.

I find I just don't have all that much fun purely socializing in DR, lately. I just end up falling silent, spacing out and/or wanting to train something. I find my time spent is more rewarding when I'm doing something I feel is productive and useful. Like writing up documents or speeches, or using my hard earned skill in the game to sneak about and give enemy reports.

'Course, "usefulness" is relative here... after all, I'm doing all that work for a game. I pay to do it, not the other way around! Which really is kind of silly!

I think part of my problem is just not wanting to deal with people lately.

I wrote this earlier today while completely insomnic. I only slept like a couple hours last night, but my brain just *really* felt like finishing this bit of writing, which for a few months now was only partway done in Elanthipedia.

The history includes some elements of Exalted Rysha's past (mostly when I write of her parents and early years, as I never really fleshed this out until later) but the majority is a recollection of actual DR events. I've had Rysha as a character since 2001, so there was a lot to summarize.

I also tried to mention most of the characters that meant something to her throughout her long life. (She is 51 now, though Elotheans live for 300 years.)

So here it is :) Just posting it to share, and so I have a record of it on my site.

There is no awkwardness in this; it is as if this is something they have done before, numerous times, the statuesque man patiently preening his delicate frostbird, her veneer melting at his touch.

This was from Jon and I RPing Albion/Iria in the middle of the Festival of Fathers. It was fun, if totally indulgent (character development, but for NPCs, and not really plot-important). :D I wish we could do more of that, like that one Allyster/Melantha scene we did in Boilgame a long time ago where it was just the two of them. And some of the really tender Alexsei/Ryshy scenes.

Anyway, Festival of Fathers in the Academy has been my focus the past few days. I'm setting up for a plot that's coming to a head pretty soon, and I'm not even sure if I'll pull it off well. I just want to get it done so I can move time forward, so I'll just do what I can, and if it's unmanageable finish it with narration.

And THEN I gotta try to work on Outcastes. It's been way too long and I feel I've delayed so much I hardly have the inspiration to get thing started again. I miss being prolific in all my games and really stretching out my creativity. :( I keep striving to write anyway, despite my lack of energy, in the hopes it will come back one day.