Crap...

Well I knew this would happen eventually my old image hosting sight has bought the farm, and hence when you load my page nothing shows up, so I guess it's time to get working on that new layout that I've never finished slicing up.

on another note I have decided that instead of leveling blackmage to 75 I will instead level Beastmaster givin that my life at the moment is not very FFXI-friendly time wise so I will level a job that lets me level when I want to for however long I want and with whom I want...

Back with a wallpaper

Well I'm finally back into FFXI I've yet to really turn it back on yet though just sort of considering my options with the new level sync system, should I continue to solo my Redmage to 37 or should I level sync it and party my way up, then finally start the slow journey that is Blackmage to 75.

But other than that I was wondering if the update had gimped beastmaster pets as Exp whores, I had seen in the last update notes it had something about editing all the bst pets.

But without further addue I'm just releasing a wallpaper for show, if anyone wants anything done graphically please let me know I will enjoy working on it as it gives me something to flex my Photoshop muscles with, I don't get enough work nowdays so my skills are becoming rusty so I need to get back into fighting shape.

On to some real world news...normally I don't post much about what I do oustide of Photoshop and FFXI here but I decided to gripe about my current situation at work.

So I work at a local superstore in the electronics department, uppon hearing that the Portrait studio supervisor put in her two weeks notice I imediatly threw myself into the aplication procedure for the position, wether I get this position or not is highly unlikley due to the store managment not being on my favorable side in most situations, but stupider stuff has happend before.

Like when I was all set to become the assistance manager of the electronics department some fool who just came back to working at the store after a 2 year spree of being away from the job of a electronics clerk decides to move back to this town and start...he then promptly was promoted over me, I am currently in a dispute with my union about the whole affair but considering that my union is comprised of a bunch of morons I doubt I will see any form of compensation unless I can irefutably prove that he was never fit for the position....

But that shouldn't be too hard considering he is

-Always late for work
-Rude to customers
-Doesn't really work very well
-Poor leadership skills
-More or less encourages slacking on the job

with a long list of growing character defects, the only bad thing is he is the department managers friend, now my department manager is a very great guy it's really the only reason I'm still at this job at the moment, but I got to say he need to assert his athourity more to stop the slump that our night shift employees are creating within the department. We are #1 in the province for movie and video game sales within the company...how we accomplish this is because the dayshift works there ass off while the night shift rests on there laurels knowing our manager is too much of a softy to do anything about it.

Hopefully good things happen to good people and I get the Portrait Studio position...I've never been a fan of people or children but I manage to sell stupid people stuff they know nothing about nor care to do research themselves...so I can manage to make children smile...or perhaps cry at the sight of me. Through Highschool a majority of my studies were on the composition of images through the eyes of a computer the same princables of computerized imagry is the basics of picture composition

Center of focus, make a trail for the eye to follow, the meaning of colors to relate to feeling and the person, lighting, focus. all the same in taking a picture of a person angle of the subject and such so I have the basics down for the position and training is provided by the company for areas I make lack in knowledge of photography but I do know my way around a studio at least. Here is hoping...if not whatever I'll stay in my early stock shift for the electronics until something else presents itself.

If only I had the nerve to tell my "Assistant manager" to learn how to work instead of dick around...oh well perhaps it will come down to that someday...hopefully I can spare myself burning of bridges it's a small world afterall. You never know when you will end up working for someone relative that you decided to be a ass too.

Oh well and as I complain the world keeps turning and life goes on, with or without the promotion I am generally happy where I am and could do it for years to come.

Coming back eventually.

I have been rather absent from the world of Vanadiel for some time, this is due to a culimination of things.

1. My brother sucks at spending money on his Credit Card so I'm going to get my own credit card to pay for FFXI with no need of it being maxed out unless I somehow suck at using a card as well.

2. I have moved into a new residence so I have been some time getting a internet connection.

and thats about it, but if anyone was wondering where I had vanished off too, thats where it was.

Found out the secret

The previous post in my blog stated I discovered that Mandragoras in the past used a regen move on characters, after a bit of testing with other people I discovered how to triger it as well, it never did the move on characters 1-75 for some reason but me, and then another character with a certain quest title had pondered up and got the regen effect as well.

So completing a new windurst quest labled Babban Ny Mheillea after completing the quest the mandragoras in the past will love you and shower you with regen...even if you slaughter them shortly after.

This game amazes me...undiscovered secrets!

So, here I am sitting on my lvl 17 redmage murdering tiny Lycopodiums in Sarutabaruta of the past...I had been standing in the same place some time with two mandragoras watching my murder there kin and then one decided he would reward me with this...wtf?

If you cant gleem from the Screenshot, I magically received regen effect, and decent sized one for doing absolutly nothing...3hp/tick regen just for standing still beside it for a minute of two. I have now gathered a large group and just watching them spam this on me! I can't believe no one has ever seen this before.

I NOW CLAIM THIS MY DISCOVERY IN THE WORLD OF FFXI! I CLAIM RIGHT TO SAY...I DISCOVERED THIS!

also the effect seems to last a long while as well. that extra boost for soloing out in the WOTG areas and just that quirky thing I expect the Dev team to add and never tell anyone about.

Books.

Some people may dispute what the best book ever was, but I have the two best books ever. There is no comparison to the amounts of win that these books contain, and if you have not/wont read these books your life is in grave danger!

Zombie Survival Guide

This book started it, bringing the Zombie menace to a real world, I have never seen such a literal recreation of zombies and it makes it all the more interesting to read. I touches on "if" Zombies existed what they would be like, the physiology, and other works of the zombies mind if you can call it so.

The book touches on basic survival techniques usefull even in the real world and is a frightning look into a post apocaliptic nightmare that is Zombie infestation, a 100% lethal virus killing all but the poor humans infected by it turning them into nothing but machines designed to do one thing...feed.

This book also touches on fictional accounts of zombies in the real world throughout history, from cavemen to egyptians, to modern suburban schoolyards, this book captures my worst fears perfectly for my worst fear are Zombies...

World War Z!

Another book from the same author, this book touches less on the actual Zombie and more on a nightmare scenario where a Zombie outbreak becomes worldwide and humanity is pushed to the brink of extinction. The book paints a frighteningly real picture of what the world would be like if such an event occured...

"Who would ever notice...at the door is a Chinaman with a gun, you sure as hell are not looking for a zombie lurking behind him!"

The world is painted as a bleak start, and continues through the stages of the war.

First is the start, the first story of the first known infected child who appears to have started the outbreak only known as "Patient Z"

Then the book breaks into other parts

The Denial, where the problem is pushed aside by larger problems and is not recognized or blacked out from the media and government, as the problem escelates out of control no one really knows what is happending besides many reports of "African Rabies causing people to go mad and attack anyone in sight" begin to spread...and it's already too late.

The Great Panic where humanity is in total anarchy when discovering such a menance not only exists...but is right outside there door.

One story inparticular seemed to chime with me for some reason, I share no comon traits with the character, nor his origin, or life**** but it just seemed so real...it scared me I wont go into detail because the book just captures you. If you have not read any of these books I highly suggest you do...I don't read often but I've read both these books over 50 times and usually re-read a chapter or two before I sleep.

Why are these book so interesting?

Personally for me Zombie represent the most realistic fictional threat that I have ever known about, it mixes fears of so many things into one, mainly a deadly Virus spreading through direct contact with the host.

Zombies are the most possible of mythical monster to exist, if anything they would be the most probable of all things like Werewolves and Vampires, because usually the basis behind them is real and explainable by science. The undead also have that emotional atachtment to them, they were all once human living and breathing, doing what every other human does...now they are nothing but flesh eating monsters...and as quick as that, you could be one of them endangering your loved one.

It's hard to explain when I'm tired...it's 3:11 in the mornaing, but there is just something about these books that grabs me and pulls me in...Seriously I would love to someday create something in the image of the world Max Brooks created in these books, a Game, Movie, Novel, maybe someday I will bring myself to do such things, but as of now I can only dream someone else will make my dream a reality...nothing would please me more than something like a Sandbox Resident evil.

This is also Why Resident Evil captures me as well, a Zombie Virus just seems so possible that it scares the living hell out of me...and thats why I love it so much!

Please let me know what you think of these books or just the general term of Zombies and what you think the Political and Social reaction of such a outbreak would be.

Adventure updates soon

Not been up too much past my last post, mainly took a hiatus from the game and just starting to get back into it. Trying to help my bro get some CoP done before he finds himself employed again and out of time to enjoy the game for some reason.

Other than that trying to force myself to skill cooking past 94...those unstackable ingredients for sweet rice cake really turn my 10 free inv slots off. Maybe once the Bonanza is done and I win 100m gil I'll finish cooking...and get a mandau...and pimp my Corsair out...and gear my lvl 17 BLM all the way to 75.

I'm gonna take a few pictures of my adventures in the next while update it and force people to comment in this blog before I blow myself to bits with every fruitless post that bring 0 comments besides one offering my pills to help keep me....up....ugh....maybe someone could show me how to set a filter to stop spam posts.