5/12: What I Accomplished Today

1. It's a Saturday, and we cleverly structured it so we didn't have to go anywhere.

2. I spent most of the afternoon playing my Night Elf Hunter. I started working on the quests I'd accepted yesterday in Menethil; I finished Search for the Excavation Team and got the fossil for the archaeology one. Woodsy dinged 21 while we did this. I did the Greenwarden but did not accept Tramping Paws. I then dinged 22 and spent my talent point on Improved Hunter's Mark, Level 4. I accepted Daily Delivery. I finished Sida's Bag and Young Crocodile Skins; Woodsy dinged 22. As I was grinding raptors looking for the dumb stone for the archaeology one, I went purple for the first time. I then turned in Excavation Team, Daily Delivery, Young Crocodile Skins, Digging through the Ooze, and the Absent-Minded Prospector, which brought me to Honored with Ironforge. I intended to do Fiora Longears right away, but I missed the Theramore boat.

Flew to IF and trained in the hunter stuff. I swapped weapons, picking up my Thrown, axe, sword, and 2H axe. I brought my Leatherworking to 129 and dropped stuff at the Auction House. Flew back to Menethil and caught the boat to Theramore. I finished Fiora Longears and picked up Journey to Astranaar and the flight path, but I couldn't afford to fly to Astranaar. I also dinged 23 here and spent my Talent Point on Hunter's Mark, Level 5. I then took the boat back to Menethil and then sailed to Auberdine.

I couldn't afford to fly to Astranaar from here, either, so I ran to the Zoram Strand, picking up the Murloc part of Raene's Cleansing. I zipped over the Maestra's Post and got Bathran's Hair. I died several times doing this one. Woodsy dinged 23. I turned Bathran's Hair in; this brought me to Revered with Darnassus. I took Orendil's Cure. Then I ran to Astranaar and turned in the Journey to Astranaar and Zoram Strand, picking up Pridewings of Stonetalon and Helping Hand. I turned in Raene's Cleaning and got the next level, then accepted Agressive Defense. I turned in Orendil's Cure and accepted Elune's Tears. I had lots of boiled clams from Zoram, so I brought my cooking to 81.

I went to the Moonwell for Raene's and accepted the next one, but I won't be able to do it for awhile. I also did Elune's Tears, which I turned in and accepted Ruins of Stardust. I ran to Darnasus and checked my pet training and Auctions. Then I returned and did Ruins of Stardust (I died once in this process), turning it in and accepting Falling Sky Lake. I dinged 24 and spent my talent point on Aimed Shot. I am loving Aimed Shot. If I'd known about it, I'd have done it before. The happy-making discovery for the day is Aimed Shot.

Then I ran to Stonetalon and picked up Super Reaper 6000. I turned in On Guard in Stonetalon and accepted Gnome's Respite. That seemed like a good break point, so I logged off for the evening.

3. As I was playing, I heard that my Co-Vivant was watching My Fair Lady, and in my head, I started drafting a course on the political implications of language. I'd probably start with Orwell's "Politics and the English Language," then Ovid's Pygmalian, followed by Shaw's, followed by several weeks on My Fair Lady. (There's a lot going on politically, and frankly, I'm learning that students are neither good at reading subtext, nor do they always understand what they're reading literally. When I used to teach Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," I found that most of my students younger than 30 thought a "man's man" was gay. What sort of limited exposure to life must you have had never to have heard that expression used in any context where you could figure out that's exactly what it doesn't mean?) Rodriguez's Aria. Maybe "How to Tame a Wild Tongue." bell hooks has several essays that could be pertinent. There was a comedian we heard a few months ago who had an extended bit she did about "the phony bitch" (the part of her that could code-switch and sound like "white," although I'm not convinced that's necessarily the appropriate label). I don't know if I will, and it might not be interesting if I did, but I sometimes hear something and

Tonight we watched Outback House. (We missed the first episode, but if you only miss the first, it's easy enough to piece the plot together.) These are the sorts of reality shows we like: put regular modern people in different times and places and see how they fare. This one, sensibly enough, put modern people in an 1860 Australian sheep station. It's always interesting to me how class works out in such shows; in most of them, like this one, one family is assigned to have a higher rank than the other people. They almost always say something at the very beginning like, "We're nominally of higher class because of course somebody has to be, but of course, we're all really equals, and we're not going to exert any authority." And this, of course, never works, because frankly (and this sounds horrible, so please forgive me in advance), in some situation, equality is a luxury. If a group of people is in a life-or-death situation and certain things must happen, that requires some sort of enforcement, and that means somebody has to be more equal than everybody else. In the show we watched tonight, for instance, the group drank a bit and had a little party one night. The next morning, the people who were servants in this situation put on the 21st-century hats and slept in. Idiotic. The young man was supposed to milk the cow. Because he slept in, not only did the cow not get milked (that's just a mean thing to do to a cow, make it stand about with full udders), but everyone's breakfast porridge was made with milk from the night before--and in an 1860 sheep station, there was no refrigeration, so that milk had turned. One of the young ladies was supposed to get up early to ensure that the urn that always needed to be full to keep hot water didn't check it--so it didn't get checked, and if the cook hadn't happened to want a cup of tea for herself, the urn might have cracked with disastrous implications for everyone. Some situations require leadership, and "Oh, we're all equals, so let's not have anyone impose authority on anyone else" won't work everywhere.

We also watched Letterman; it was his Mother's Day Show, so he had his mom on. We like the Mom shows.

We also watched John Cleese episode of Monty Python's Personal Best.

4. I signed up for the ad thing here; it's prohibited to put such ads on porn, so I'm guessing there won't be any inappropriate ads. We shall see. I'm not allowed to click the links, and I'm afraid I'll forget. (I'm also concerned; what if my Co-Vivant clicks these links on the same computer I use? Will this be a problem? Will I be in trouble? What will the consequences be?)

5. Back to Warcraft. I completed Super Reaper 6000 and turned it in, accepting Further Instructions. I turned in Gnome's Respite and accepted Old Colleague and Scroll for Mauren. I worked on the Pridewings, and Woodsy dinged 24. I completed Journey to Stonetalon Peak and picked up Reclaiming the Charred Vale and worked on First Aid for a bit; then I picked up the flight path and flew to Astranaar. I turned in the Pridewing quest and took out Kayneth Stillwind.

Then I ran to Ratchet. I took the Deepmoss Spider Eggs quest and turned in Further Instructions, accepting the return trip. I took the boat to Booty Bay and picked up the Flight Path and then sailed back to Ratched. I had a Darkmoon Faire Fortune to go to Palemoon Rock; I got a level 25 green item and food ranging from level 15-45. Then I hearthed to Menethil, cleared my inventory, and flew to IF. Got my leatherwork to 135. Turned in Old Colleague and got Ineptitude+Chemistry=Fun. I went to the Auction House to sell the leatherworking stuff none of my characters could use and to look for potions the last quest needs; they weren't all there, so I had logged off, had my alchemist make them, mailed them to this character, and logged back in.

Took the Tram to SW. Got Speaking of Fortitude, which I finished immediately and got Brother Paxton. I finally bought a polearm; now I own one of all the weapons for which I am trained. Turned in Scroll for Mauren and accepted Devils in Westfall. Turned in Brother Paxton and got Ink Supplies. I zipped into Westfall and took care of the Dust Devil one really quickly. Then I flew to Redridge and turned in Ink Supplies, taking Rethban Ore. I accepted and then quickly turned in Unwelcome Guest (meant to do Bellygrub earlier and forgot), running up the hill to take care of the Rethban quest. By this point, my potions had arrived in the mail.

I returned to SW and turned in Devils in Westfall, accepting Special Delivery for Gaxim and Retrieval for Mauren; this brought me to Honored among the gnomes. (That should be a TV movie: Honored Among the Gnomes.) I turned in Rethban Ore and Return to Kristoff. At this point I dinged 25 and spent the talent point on Go for the Throat. I caught the Tram to IF, turned in the potions quest and accepting the next leg, and then took the tram back to SW, where I trained my fishing and accepted the two quests in the Dwarven Quarter in for Dark Mines (Collecting Memories and Oh Brother). Then I did the recordkeeping and parked this character by the mailbox.

5. I was obviously not very useful today. I made dinner, but that meant making her a peanut butter sandwich and me some frozen potstickers. I folded my towels and put them away. I think that was about it.

The occasional Lazy Saturday is good for the soul.