Things are very busy right now IRL.  I’m used to short breaks and hiatuses, but this is the longest I’ve gone.  I’m on a pretty epic real life quest and I’ll resubscribe when I have the time and attention to give to the game.  But right now, I’m just not playing enough to justify continuously paying for it.  My account runs out on Tuesday.  I actually went in a few weeks ago to cancel and thought I might pop in a bit before the end of my sub… but nope.

Will I complete Loremaster of Kalimdor before Cataclysm drops? Who knows.  I still would like to…

Will I be back for Cataclysm? Hell yeah, but maybe not right away.  It depends how it lines up with the arrival of babygirl.

Do I play anything anymore or am I just a fuddy duddy now?  I still play some games.  Once the weather gets cooler I’ll spend more time in the computer room again rather than loungin’ on the couch with the laptop.  Otherwise my gaming staples right now are on my iPhone: Words with Friends, Carcassone, and Civilization Revolution.

Generation 3: Syrana and Summer

After Syrana confirmed that she was in fact pregnant, she became infected with a common pregnancy ailment: quest for knowledge.  She had an overwhelming desire to read everything she could get her hands on about what was happening inside her body.

After she made her way through all the books in town it was time to hit up the internet.  She became addicted to baby forums and blogs – obsessively reading and commenting on them.  Oftentimes she would alienate other members with her brash words, but she didn’t care.  She wanted knowledge.  She wanted stories.  She wanted feedback.  And she wanted them all to think she knew-it-all.

But the one thing she hadn’t done yet, was tell the father.  She posted about her dilemma, seeking advice.  She received a lot of backlash, but amidst all the negativity she received messages urging her to tell Sidney.  One evening she arranged to meet him at the park and told him that she was expecting.  He didn’t believe her at first, thinking it was a ploy to get him to leave his own family.  She assured him that wasn’t the case, but she wanted him to know… and that’d she’d need a little bit of help.  Once he realized she wasn’t lying to pull a con, the look of disgust on his face angered Syrana.  He bolted before she could say anything further and wouldn’t return her calls until…

Syrana left Sidney alone after trying to talk to him a few days after the park meeting.  But, she wanted to at least let him know that she had just given birth to his daughter, Jezabelle.  She left a brief, yet cryptic message on his phone and was shocked when he arrived at the hospital as she was being discharged.  He insisted on riding home with her and the baby, even paying for the cab ride.

Syrana was disgusted with herself because she was an emotional wreck.  She knew it and didn’t want him to see it.  On the one hand she was beyond thrilled that he was there, but on the other hand she wanted to claw his eyes out.

Within 15 minutes of being home, Syrana wished she hadn’t called him.  As soon as she turned her attention to feeding their daughter, Sidney was up to his old tricks hitting on the maid.  Syrana threw the bottle at him, hitting him squarely in the back of the head.  She screamed for him to get out and never come around again.  Sidney put up little protest as he backed out of the house, Jezabelle shrieking and crying.  The maid mumbled a half-hearted apology, but Syrana fired her during her fit of rage.

Eventually Syrana calmed back down and was able to calm Jezabelle down.  Syrana stood over her crib, admiring how tiny and adorable she was… except for how much she looked like her father.  Syrana felt a surge of evil coarse through her body as she stared at the sleeping infant.

She couldn’t help herself.  Some habits never die.

The thrill of stealing candy from a baby – her own baby – made her smile despite the wailing coming out of Jezabelle’s mouth.  It was at that moment that Syrana wondered how her child would turn out.

And that’s where the problem is.  I keep thinking it’s only been a few days or a week.  When I sat down to write the Sims Saturday post yesterday, I was honestly surprised that I hadn’t posted anything for almost a month.  But, with my body running hotter than normal due to my 24/7 bun oven, it’s often difficult for me to spend much time in our computer room.

That means less gaming and less blog posting.  Yes, yes, we have a laptop, which is what I’m typing on right now.  But then I don’t have access to all of my screenies and such.  Plus, there was something about physically sitting in front of my computer desk that tied to my motivation and muse.

So, anywho, here’s a bit of an update.

I haven’t played very much WoW since I completed Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms.  I really want to finish Kalimdor before Cataclysm is released, so I keep hoping I’ll have enough time yet.  I even missed out on my favorite in game holiday, Midsummer Fire Festival.  My baby draenei priest alt got to complete the fires of Eastern Kingdoms thanks to Gertbee’s chopper and patience to drive me around.  I still had to split that up into 2 separate sessions… and I procrastinated until the last weekend of the holiday before finally going on.

I had planned to take several characters around to honor/piss on fires.

I’ve also been playing some Sims 3 Ambitions.  I like it and find the new professions fun: ghost hunter, tattoo artist, stylist, firefighter, architect, etc.  Again, haven’t been able to play as much as I’d like due to being hot (only so much the A/C and fans can do for that room, I’m afraid), but it’s been entertaining.

Then there’s Facebook “games” again.  After a 5 month hiatus from touching any of them, I started playing FrontierVille and Family Feud.  I was playing them daily.  Recently it’s slowed down again.  I haven’t touched Family Feud for a couple weeks and it’s been about a week for FrontierVille.  I must say though, FrontierVille is a huge step up from FarmVille and is moving in the direction of being more of a game than just clicketyclickclick.

At some point I’ll be able to spend more time in front of my desk again.  But for now, most of my internet connectivity is via my iPhone or the laptop… that way I can lounge on the couch, put my feet up, and have a fan blowing on me.  Ahhh, bliss.

(Sidenote: And of course, you are always welcome to find out what’s going on IRL with the spawn-on-the-way.  Although, I don’t write on that one nearly as often as I’d like to, but it’s more frequent than around here lately.)

Generation 3: Syrana and Summer

Shortly after Syrana and Summer moved into their own house, they took a trip to the science lab.  Well, first they went to the cemetery… then they went to the science lab.  Summer saw an ad for bringing back loved ones and the girls decided to test it out on Grampa Brian.  It worked, so he moved in with them.  This wasn’t too bad of an arrangement since he was able to get his old job back too!  Only downside for Brian – his bed was in the garage next to the car.  Oh well, ghosts don’t need as much sleep and food as the living.

While Summer went about her goodly ways and got an entry position at the hospital, Syrana sought a life of crime.  One place where she could spew her conspiracy theories and be taken seriously was in dark alleys with other criminals.

One night, she was working with Sidney to rob some banks.  She had been assigned as his getaway driver.  Things had gotten intense, but they pulled it off.  After ditching the getaway car and clothes, they headed back to Syrana’s place to lay low for a bit.

Sidney was a bit of a sweet talker.  Both of them still had adrenaline coursing through their veins.  One thing led to another…

…. and afterwards they whispered sweet nothings about diamonds and money… the shiniest loot to whet their appetite for more crime…

…. and more bad decisions about spending the night together.  Which turned into a few more sleepovers.  Syrana eventually found out that Sidney was married and had a couple of kids, but she was smitten.

Unfortunately, Sidney didn’t return her feelings.  In fact, he thought he was a big ol’ playa’ and his behavior was inappropriate most of the time.  Syrana misread him as flirtatious until she walked downstairs to catch him kissing her twin sister in the kitchen.

Summer felt awful about hurting Syrana’s feelings.  Syrana wouldn’t accept her apologies.  Summer had been flattered to have someone show interest in her for once, but she was an innocent bystander – literally.  She had been standing there when Sidney walked up and planted one on her.  Syrana even called Summer evil for her betrayal.  This was the first bit of tension to enter the house since they moved off the compound.

Syrana became increasingly irritable and mildly sick.  At first she thought it was over her quick fling with Sidney.  Then she thought it was her body’s way of revolting against the unusual work hours she kept.  But then, she started to wonder what it’d be like to have a baby…

Although I’ve been a bit more focused at getting the new blog rolling, I haven’t stopped gaming altogether.  Granted, I haven’t played WoW in about a week, but I’ve been hitting up Facebook games again lately…

>.>

<.<

Don’t look at me like that! They take little time! I have less time now with all this sleep I keep wanting.

Anywho, a couple days ago, CSI Deadly Intent for the Xbox 360 arrived via Gamefly.  Mind you, I added this along with several other console games several months ago while I was still one of the cohosts of Polygamerous.

Unfortunately, we had reduced back down to 1 game at a time and …. well, Sideshow has ultimate control over the list.  So, mine will get here when they get here.

This game is at least a year old, but if you are a CSI fan like myself, then you will probably enjoy it.  I had fun, but I wouldn’t pay the brand new, full price of the game.  I got about 10 hours of game play out of it and there is practically no replayability (unless you are just anal about achievements).

I played a previous one and enjoyed it (pretty sure I rented it or bought it used….can’t remember though).  There are still a few things that frustrate me in the game play though.  Such as, needing to uncover certain evidence or statements before moving forward with the investigation.  Sometimes my thought process was ahead of the game.

The voice acting is pretty good, since they use the actual actors from the show.  Well, except Catherine Willows.  I’m not sure why that was the only one done by the non-actor of the TV counterpart.  The look and voice were close, but noticeable to someone who watches the show regularly (read: too much).

Each case has an interesting story that unfolds with twists and turns so the suspect is never who you first expect (that would be too easy!)

I must say that I never learn my lesson that I would enjoy these type of games MORE on my computer than on a console.

Why?

Because the Xbox stick does not have enough fine control for sweeping the screen, watching for cursor changes.  A mouse is easier to maneuver in such a way.  Sometimes it was quite touchy in the game and I spent too much time trying to get the cursor where it needed to be.  The DS would also be better, I would suspect….although they had their own special version of the game with different cases…. probably to incorporate more of the touchyfeely platform.

All in all, I enjoyed solving 5 cases.  I’m a pretty good armchair CSI, if I do say so m’self.

Remember how I said I wasn’t going to turn this into a mommy-to-be blog? Well, that’s why I ended up talking Sideshow into setting up this one for me!  (It’s even got an honest-to-goodness REAL “about” page! *gasp*)

Couldn’t help it…the urge…. it overtook me.  No, we won’t be closin’ up shop here.  Yes, I know my posting has been a bit erratic and it will likely remain that way for …. who knows how long.  But sometimes… isn’t it nice to not have a major bombardment of unread posts in your feed reader?  That’s what I thought!  Yes, you are welcome. 

Anywho, check out the other one if you want.  I don’t forsee gaming crossing onto the baby blog very much.  It’ll be more likely that some “how having spawn affects gaming” will continue to crop up here.

But I’m an emotionally charged woman who needs more baby outlets right now.

I need to go drain some souls to gather my sanity…

Huzzah! Eastern Kingdoms complete.

I didn’t even finish Booty Bay’s available quests, nor did I go into Blackrock Mountain… I have a TON of left over Eastern Kingdoms quests.

Now Kalimdor… I have around 20ish left to complete and I’m struggling (STRUGGLING, I tell ya!) to find them.  It’s nuts.  I’m checking out the listing of hard to find quests on the WoW forums as well as using the addon Everyquest.  I think there are some more Booty Bay quests that will have parts of their chains go over to Kalimdor and count there.

At least I hope so.

*frets*

We won’t be going through the crazy queue this year.

I know, I know, after last year’s BlizzCon I was already talking about going back… even if only for the meetups outside of the convention.  However, due to the little one on the way, we won’t be able to go.  Last year it was so hot in August, going in October would have been nice… but… I won’t be allowed to fly and will be gettin’ ready to pop.

Now, if any of you want to get this lil’ one a cute plushy from the convention, that would be awesome. 

Also, the holiday weekend (travel and time off) threw off my sense of what day of the week it is… #iblamepregnancybrain

Forsaken!

Now, if only we could determine for sure if Baby is waving, throwing the horns, or flipping us off…

(No, we still don’t know the sex yet.  Should know what kind of gear Baby’s equipped with at our next ultrasound in 4 weeks.)