Confused in FFXI

So I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XI since US PS2 release back in April/May of 2004. It’s been a long time, and a lot of changes have happened.

It hasn’t hit me how different things are now until recently. Several of my good friends in game have quit, no one does Campaign or Besieged anymore, servers have merged, and I’m still level 76 when everyone else has already hit level 90. Even how people level their jobs has changed. Before it was about grouping into a party of 6 and beating up mobs outside of cities. Nowdays, it’s all about Abyssea. Experience points are easy and fast to come by there.

It’s just not the same anymore.

That said, I’m not quitting the game. I felt a tad sad when I was looking at my friends list of all the people I know in game that have quit. It made me feel like an aged dinosaur. I didn’t know what to do. I pretty much sat there, chatting with people while my character sat in my Mog House waiting for the Besieged that never happened because I had to log off.

I guess that’s just how it goes. Changes happen in real life, so why should I be surprised when the same happens in a virtual world?

Sakura Blossoms and the Last Home Basketball Game of 2010-2011 Season

Went to the South Coast Botanical Gardens with a small group of my friends to view the sakura trees blossoming there. I was kinda expecting more, sorta like Ueno Park or the banks of Uji River, but it was still nice.

After the cherry blossom viewing, I drove down to UC Irvine for the last game of the season. We lost. The women’s team played against UC Riverside. The men’s team lost later that evening.

Looks like it’s going to be a noon game for Irvine during the Big West Tournament. Took a day off from work on Thursday to attend it.

Kefir and Coffee

My brother-in-law just came back from a business trip from Hawaii and brought my family some macadamia nuts and coffee. Since we still have coffee from his last trip to Hawaii (or my trip to Hawaii, not sure if it’s mine or his) along with Costco coffee I decided to make myself some coffee.

Unfortunately, I had to throw away my soy milk creamer a few weeks back because it went bad. I think it expired in January, but when I looked at it in early February, it was molding. Out it goes.

Remaining choices in the fridge were milk and kefir. Both lactose-free, so I decided to try it with the kefir. Poured kefir and honey into the cup, and then poured coffee in… I got microscopic curdles… Holy crap.

I wondered if I could filter out the curdles and get regular coffee again? Pass. Down it goes into the sink.

Since I made 2 cups. The second cup ended up with regular lactose-free creamer from the cupboard.

Random Thought….

So you’d think a blog about random thoughts would have a lot more random thoughts than it does.

So here’s a random thought… Crap, that thought left me. Maybe I’ll remember it later.

Today, I went to eat dim sum with Adamu, Shiz, Jyun, Popo, and Ardith. Afterwards we got konnyaku tea nearby. On the way home we stopped by Ikea where Adam saved money by not buying the billy bookshelves, I saved money by getting Adamu to buy the chocolates, and Ardith saved money by not driving herself. Ok, so that doesn’t make much sense unless you understand the context.

We should have gone to Marukai or somewhere else afterwards, but instead Adamu and I went back to my place and we watched Bones and House. Yeah, I know, exciting. I got more of the ugly hat done. Just the mohawk left.

New iPad

I am now a proud owner of a new iPad. I got it as a present from Adamu, and let’s say for Valentine’s Day.

I keep on downloading new apps every day. Most of them free. Some of them I’ve paid for. I even bought keyboard for it. Which was kinda expensive I’m thinking maybe I shouldn’t, but it makes typing things so much easier.

Overall, it’s a toy I could live without, but it’s still cool.

Second Half of Comp Time

So I finally get to take the second half of my comp time. The first half was 1 week 4 days as the Friday was Christmas Eve. The second half is 2 weeks 1 day. I return to work on a Tuesday.

One of my coworkers told me to go somewhere. I thought of New York City for a week. My boss told me that NYC doesn’t have enough stuff for one week, and it’s expensive. NYC is only fun if you know what you want to do every moment you’re there apparently. That would explain why there are weekend package tours on H.I.S. Maybe I could go to D.C. or Chicago? Then I realized that the Snowmaggedon is hitting that area right about now. Scratch that plan. Having my flight cancelled or be stuck somewhere isn’t exactly what I find fun and exciting.

So I’m a SoCal girl. I like it when I don’t have to wear a heavy jacket.

So I thought, Disneyland!! For a week! Adamu shot that down real fast. He’s okay with 2 days. There’s also Knott’s Berry Farm, and he’s never been there before so it might be fun to go.

I kinda want to go to Japan as well, but it’s cold over there and I don’t know if I want to pay $1k USD for a flight. I would much rather go to Japan when the sakura trees are in bloom, too.

What to do, what to do.