Last night I had a wild hair and decided to share some personal photos, along with some self deprecating humor and anti-WoW themed ramblings. Those of you that caught those posts, consider yourselves lucky. 😉 For, at about eight o’clock this morning I was lying in bed thinking… “I was pretty ripped when I posted that stuff… maybe I’d better yank those down for further review…”, which is exactly what I did. I’d had more than the occasional beer last night, then had a crazy notion around midnight… Hey… blogging sounds like a good idea..! 🙄
The posts were mostly playful in nature and the pics weren’t anything I would be ashamed of, but I do feel that it was a good call on my part to yank my wife’s pic off the site. I’ve posted pics of either her or my son in the past, but it was always done with subtlety. I doubt she’d appreciate having her image on the home page of my WoW blog – larger than life. That was something I thought was a good idea last night, but not so good today after about .5 seconds of critical thought early this morning. Good news is… she’ll never know, so Ssshhh….. keep it on the down low. 😉
The reason for my posts were to add a personal touch to the site and to let visitors see the man behind the elf, the face behind the postings… well, you know what I mean. I thought it’d be fun to share a few pics of the real Garwulf.
Well, after looking at the posts again today, they were kinda silly. I’ll likely republish some of the pics and perhaps more, but I’ll save them for the About page and try to organize my thoughts a little better. 😉
Those of you that saw the posts on the site or via my feed, well… hopefully you enjoyed them. 😀
Anyway, I was a feeling a little sentimental and uninhibited last night, so I went for it. Normally if I’ve been enjoying a few adult beverages and then get the urge to post, I usually have enough sense to realize it’s probably best to wait until the following day to add any blog entries. Topic ideas that hit me once I’ve had a few aren’t always ones I’d explore under normal circumstances.
On a serious note… one bit that I hinted at in my revealing posts last night holds true, and this is a topic which I hope to address soon. I led a pretty productive life before discovering this accursed game. Slowly, things that used to be important to me started to take a back seat to WoW. This is a sad truth, and I’m willing to bet the majority of you out there can relate to this process.
Like I said, I hope to explore this theme in a future article. As a relatively popular figure in the WoW blogosphere, I see things like teaching people how to properly enjoy this game as being much more important than how to be great at it. Enjoyment and success go hand in hand, but the trick is to not get consumed by the bulls**t perceived status and what not that goes along with being good at World of Warcraft. It’s really just not that important in the grand scheme of things.
In fact… lately I’ve just given up the struggle. Would you believe I’ve not played in two weeks… well, 13 days to be exact. Best part is, it’s been by choice.
And even better… I’ve been happier and less stressed out these past two weeks. I’ve been able to spend more time with my wife and son, I’ve been getting organized, as well as caught up with work and personal projects, and I’ve been tying up a lot of loose ends. Ridding your life of one very large and unnecessary distraction gives you an amazing and fresh perspective on things. I also can devote time to the site without feeling as guilty about it detracting from other responsibilities.
Anyhow, I’ll be back in the mix, but only when I’m ready. Apart from my first year or two of WoW, when I was most likely what many would deem addicted, I’ve always been one to play only when I want to play. This is a good way to be. When you start feeling the compulsion to always get your dailies and weeklies in, never miss a raid, or fear falling behind, that’s when you should recognize you may be in a little too deep.
Anyway, before I go too far off on a tangent here, I’m going to cut this post short and most likely save these thoughts for another article.
In the meantime… keep it casual people. It is possible to enjoy this game, be proficient at it and lead a rewarding and fulfilling life outside of it. It’s just that most people can’t. I’m a prime example of the struggle. I’m what most hardcore players would consider casual, yet I’m constantly trying to maintain that delicate balance.
OH WELL THAT’S JUST GREAT!!!!!
The one time I don’t check the site daily like I do (due to the convergence of Father’s Day and my wife’s foot surgery) and I miss all the good stuff! >=(
Just kidding, Gar! I am sad that I missed some silliness but I am happy to hear that you are enjoying life and the game more. I LOVE the fact that I can log into WoW anytime and have something to do. I don’t do progression raiding so it makes raiding a lot of fun. I really want to see Ulduar so I go along with overgeared PuGs and play till I can’t (usually that has something to do with dinner or baths for the kids). As loyal readers will know, I am currently toying with the John McClain PvP spec for hunters (i.e. being the biggest, hardest to kill pain in the a$$) and am having fun with that. I can grind champ seals for mounts or pets. I can go get Loremaster achievements for various zones in Northrend and make a ton of gold.
WoW is perfect for me because at the end of my day, when I have an hour or two to myself, I can really enjoy that time and not feel like “I should have done more.”
Stay cool, bro.
P.S. Have you tried the holiday boss with the dungeon finder yet? Best. Thing. Ever. It took me a half hour to grind him for the cape on my orc hunter (after a druid tank STOLE the first one /shakesfist!) and today I’ll grind the tank one and DPS one for my DK. Like I said. You gotta love this game. =)
Holiday dungeon fire = win.
Log on my shammy, run it, and when I open the satchel I’m disappointed with only 2 frosts and some dumb thing called an “Ice Chip.” Eventually I right click the ice chip to figure out what wierd buff it’ll give me…oh wait that’s a super awesome mini pet :O
You got the pet? I read a blue post on the WoW forums that they took the pet out this year? What kind of pet is it? Enquiring minds want to know. I now have renewed hope that there is more to the bag than just frosties. =P
They took away the scorchling but added a frigid frostling which is a little earth elemental that throws a snow flurry over your character every once in awhile.
Oooh… that sounds awesome. 🙂
/need
Get in line, bro….i asked about it first. =P
Quite frankly though, I doubt I’ll get it as the RNG has been WAAAAAY overly kind to yours truly. The other day I was doing the ICC 5 man quests on my Orc hunter and he got the 219 bow on his first chest in HOR. Then today I got the 232 xbow on my first kill of Ick. 2 kills, 2 GREAT weapons. I can’t complain about not getting the pet. =P
Decided I’d take some screenshots to show you guys 🙂
Well, and my new Venomhide Ravasaur…
http://www.photoshop.com/accounts/b7811513629a48568d2a8d323769f77e/px-assets/77da715c5b774c5386aab94e4ba9d376
http://www.photoshop.com/accounts/b7811513629a48568d2a8d323769f77e/px-assets/78254a27d59b45e5a28af1b9214a1485
“I’d had more than the occasional beer last night, then had a crazy notion around midnight… Hey… blogging sounds like a good idea..! :roll:”
Replace blogging with text messaging random friends, or updating facebook status and you have literally described each of my drunken weekends.
Glad to know you’re actually human, Garwulf’
Know exactly what you mean with burnout. Couple months ago I was raiding pretty heavily on my shaman and then my guild suddenly went through a whole overhaul and I decided I’d had enough. I decided I was taking a break and faction changed my shaman over to horde.
Problem is I reached my burnout right as two of my real life friends hit 80 XD. But for now I’m just leveling my long forgotten druid and a priest. WTB cataclysm to make my worgen!
Hey Gar, great post and sadly I missed all those silly posts. You’ll have to email whatever pics so I can still get some fun in. In any case you are absolutely right, and like I mentioned before. I think being deployed twice while playing World of Warcraft for 5 years has kept me from complete burnout, which is why it’s still refreshing to me after all these years.
Though you can’t abandon me now!
I’ll send you the pics if I don’t republish them. 😉 One of them you’d likely seen already. The one of MissG and I that was in our guild gallery awhile back. Another was a recent pic of me and Gar jr., and then I tossed in a couple of others that were taken just before I started playing WoW… during my rockstar years. 🙂
I’d been meaning to tell you, sorry I hadn’t been on much. I felt kinda bad with you having come back after all this time, then I more or less disappear. I’d been starting to get on later and later prior to your return, then eventually I just said f**k it… I don’t have time for this right now. I’ll most certainly be back on soon – I just needed to make some minor lifestyle adjustments and re-prioritze things a bit.
Enjoy your leave!
I’ll be looking forward to your upcoming entries about this. This game can easily become a priority regardless of real life responsibilities and relevant issues. One could look at the deservedly beloved BRK to see what can happen if one isn’t aware. Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, that’s not a slight to BRK, simply a fact. Fine line between healthy escapism and addiction. Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go run my dailies!
HeHe… very true. BRK has his eyes wide open right now though, as do I. He’s still the same great BRK, but he knows now the perils of spending so much time leading a double life. I think BRK V. 2.0 may turn out to be more fun than the original. 😀
I’m hoping he comes back to stay.
I think that as long as you are mindful of what is really important in life, and can properly prioritize RL responsibilities and such over playtime, then WoW can fit neatly into the schedule. 😉
“When you start feeling the compulsion to always get your dailies and weeklies in, never miss a raid, or fear falling behind, that’s when you should recognize you may be in a little too deep.”
This is exactly why I like leveling. The only goal in leveling is basically to get the level cap. There’s no stress in raiding or getting X amount of dailies in, or struggling to complete a tier set. It’s simply getting to the level cap.
Which probably explains why I don’t have an 80.
I love leveling myself. I know most people hate it, but I really like the leveling experience.
End game is a bit better, but I do like leveling. 😉
In fact, all I’ve really wanted to do lately is create another alt for leveling. I’ve been repressing this urge, because I know I don’t really “need” to go out of my way to find things in this game to keep me interested. I know I’m going to want to level another alt in Cataclysm, so it would make more sense to wait.