Good night, Wibbles.

Shawn was handing me things to put up on the shelves that used to hold the billion hamsters we once had. We’ve moved the two cages the three little ones shared down to the huge head board we have (we have one of those ancient water bed head boards that doubles pretty much as storage/shelves.)

That’s when I noticed Wibbles laying on the bottom of the cage right near the tube to go up to the nest and wheel. I knew something was wrong right away because these little guys never lay on the bottom. They come down to run on the wheel, sleep IN the wheel, and occasionally will nap on the shelves, but NEVER directly on the bottom of the cage.

I told Shawn right away I thought something was wrong and opened the cage door. When I opened the cage door I did not get a single reaction. These guys are pretty jumpy, that’s when I told Shawn I think he might have died…I was right as I reached in and pet him and he didn’t move.

He was still warm.

I won’t go into details–it was pretty obvious what had killed him once I lifted him up and out. Or at least, it wasn’t as if he laid down and died.

We put him in a lil’ box and buried him with the alarming amount of other lil’ guys we’ve had to bury.

It’s never easy with rodents, huh?

Night night, Wibbles. You were soft, so amazingly dumb and cute. Sleep well.

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Kenpachi gooood

Several years ago I met a woman online in passing.

I didn’t understand her very well. At that time, I was stand-offish and far more formal than what I am today. I admired the writing she did but like like brief internet encounters, we brushed, continued on with our live for several years.

Later on we met yet again through a super uber geeky passion we both share and whether it was the time that had passed or the time spent together with the same geeky passion, the two of us grew to know one another.

Just because we’d never met face to face didn’t mean I considered our friendship lesser than, or not-as-deserving as others. I treated her with the same horribly blunt, but honest, zany respect I give most people I consider close and she plodded through my randomness, strange moods, depression and self-doubt to stick with me now for–oh, what? Years?

She’s a great person. There are a handful out there that will probably disagree with me. They’ll probably tell me that I don’t know her like they do, or that I don’t understand what happened between them to change their opinion or perhaps, that I am naive and don’t know how it is. Isn’t that always the way, though? No one can be perfect for everyone. We’ve all got a few grumblers in our past.

Maybe they are right on one count: I don’t know her like they did and I don’t understand what happened then that made them think the way they do.

Luckily I am not them. I did not know her then, was not part of past then and am lucky to be a small part of her life now.

Today, she is an amazingly goofy, profound, poetic, silly, human that I am glad to have known. We have gone through our share of stupid things–my misunderstandings and hang ups, but we’ve always drifted back and never have I been able to hold a grudge. She probably would have made a great sister to strangle, scream, shout, laugh, cry and grow with too, despite the fact she likes xenomorphs.

I’m glad to have been part of her life so far and giddy to see that she’s branched out from live journal to Word Press. Say hello to L, and rulihe.com. Tell her Mel sencha.

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The Brazen Wench was an Inn and tavern I had created to do some story development and creative writing for Suliss’urn, another character of mine. The Brazen has slowly begun to grow on me, becoming clearer as time goes by.

Orlak character sketch ©M. Pence

The bar keep’s name was Orlak. He’d been behind the bar of The Brazen Wench since it opened, or so the rumors had it. A wizened, grizzled, scar laden dwarf that stood upon a rickety wooden box-contraption with wheels that carried him with a push from one end of the knife marked bar to the other.

Orlak’s dull gray eyes didn’t flicker upward from his polishing of a wooden tankard with dubiously stained cloth when figures approached his bar for drinks. Orlak had long ago given up any enthusiasm in seeing whomever showed up, several scars along his stumped hands and across his face had taught him to pretend as if faces did not exist.

Orlak the Dwarf © M. Pence, 2008

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Web Hosting Geeks

We’re poor.

Alright, most of us are poor, aren’t we? With the rising gas prices and increasing debt, a lot of people are certainly learning to appreciate the value of a dollar here and there.

Most people don’t realize the opportunities that can open up to you with a good blog, a web host, affiialte links and a decent grasp on grammer can bring you. You can bring a little in on the side, or some bring enough through blogs and online writing to quit their day jobs!

But it’s got to start somewhere, doesn’t it? You need a web site, and most web sites need web hosting. Where are you going to start the search?

I’d like to think that Web Hosting Geeks is a good place to start. Web Hosting Geeks offers reviews and a ton of information for those of us scouring the net for good web hosting deals. Want to know where you can register a domain name free? Curious as to which has the best forum hosting? Web Hosting Geek site offers all of this information and more at your fingertips, just at the end of a clicked link.

Occasionally the editor’s picks aren’t always to taste; members and users can leave their reviews and ratings of each webhosting site, giving potential buyers and consumers feedback before investing. It’s sort of like the ebay for web hosting sites. You can see what people thought of the product before dropping cash you might otherwise need.

It’s a long road to becoming the next Dooce or John Chow, but they had to start somewhere and you do too. Web Hosting Geeks is a good tool for your first steps!

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Early evening Florida light streaming in through the dirt-stained glass of our kitchen’s double doors. Since it’s summer, Florida’s early evening light generally tends to waddle from bright through clouds, or bright yellow sun though clouds. It’s a particular shade of the sun too that you don’t see in the morning or afternoon due to the angle of things, all the shadows are long except for those in the kitchen. Electric lights above chase them away.

My cat comes silently stalking from around the corner with her tail straight but for the very tip, which always quirks to the left or suggests the shape of a stretched out question mark.

If I am at the kitchen window she will wind around my legs and make a high pitched, short kitteney sort of meow at the window. If I am not, she will make the same sound and then tilt her head over a dainty shoulder then up, expectantly at me.

I pad over in my bare feet and scoop her up from the bare terrazzo floors, letting her front paws dangle over me left fore arm and letting her tail and butt be supported by my right.

She’s tall enough to look out the window now and her pupils grow predator-huge. Her tail starts swishing back and forth, thumping over my stomach and hip as she stares at our back yard. Some times there are birds or squirrels and she’ll lift a paw excitedly to the window and chatter her teeth to make little purrrt-mew-meh-mew-mew? noises at them. Some times, there’s nothing in the back yard but she still watches it like it’s the best thing evar.

She’s warm and heavy in my arms. I always take the time to remember how pencil-thin and skinny she was when we got her from the shelter and compare it to how round, sleek, and solid she is in my hold now. She’s incredibly smooth; I imagine this is what silk or satin might have been created and fashioned after and her fur is always spotless. I am probably messing up the seven hours of licking she does every day to get her fur to lay just so but at that moment I don’t care and she doesn’t appear to, either.

And then she purrs. It’s not a loud purr like our other cat Raven, who sounds like she’s swallowed a diesel engine with some wheezing. Flora’s purr is deep in her chest and belly, more often felt than heard. You have to be very close or it has to be very quiet for you to hear it. She purrs and it travels up and down my arms, rumbles ticks lightly against my chest and that is when I wonder if this is what true peace feels like.

There are no expectations. There are no arguments. There are no judgments, she doesn’t care if I’m lumpy, having a bad hair day, or forgot to brush my teeth after eating something heavily sprinkled with garlic. There are no misunderstandings, no heated words by mistake, no yelling, no expectations, no broken dreams, no self-hatred or regrets. She is not human, there fore, I have no faith to lose in her.

People often wonder why I don’t have friends or wish to go out or wish to go through the rigmarole of finding them–I think it’s because I’d much prefer my kitchen window and the rumble tick of a contented cat.

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In MMORPG’s, the guild is often a welcome addition to any game. Should you PVP, your guild generally has your back but that’s not the only plus in having an excellent guild! Here’s a chance to socialize with people like minded, often online when you are and generally available to group with, without the rigmarole of ‘you get what you LFG’ for as well as PUGS.

Running and maintaining a guild however can often suck the fun right out a game for guild leaders and officers. When they aren’t having fun the entire guild often picks up this emotion and echoes it back. Throughout my rather illustrious (read: geeky) career of MMORPG’s, being a guild leader and officer, there have been some really interesting opinions and things I have learned as to what I think makes or breaks a good guild and lucky for you, I’ve written them up and offered them here.

By no means am I saying that a guild has to be run this way. These are just a collection of my thoughts and opinions and I hope they help you!

DO NOT:

• Mock your members openly in public places. And I’m not talking the fun mock you do in guild chat when they slip up and mistype or misspell. Calling your members stupid, their issues or anything they wish to privately share with you stupid is a great way to alienate guild members from you.
• Allow your guild officers to do whatever they want because they’re officers. Nothing sends a clearer “You’re not important, we’re not really a group, you’re not as awesome as we are, poo on you” than this do as I say, not as I do behavior.
• Allow your fellow guild leaders to do whatever they want because they’re guild leaders.
• Allow yourself to do whatever you want because you created the guild and that somehow makes you moar speshul than everything else.
• Forget to make some place some where for fellow guild members to meet and chatter that is outside the game. A message board, a web site, a chat room–anything to help bring a sense of community to your members is a plus.
• Ignore what your members have to say, no matter how annoying and repetitive it is.
• Believe most guilds are a democracy. Few are.
• Have officer and guild leader drama spill publicly—be it in guild chat or boards. Present a united front whenever possible. If and when you lose an officer in a particularly nasty /guild leave, save face by staring down anything nasty they have to say by remaining calm and polite. Who do you think will come out looking like the better?
• Snap, treat discourteously, or be rude intentionally to your guild members. Even if you think they deserve it. Your members are your guild’s life. You don’t HAVE to like them, but as an officer or guild leader you do have to work with them.
• Be unavailable to members when online with your guild leader or officer character. When you signed up for this gig, you signed away your privacy in game for that officer/leader avatar/toon. Be prepared to be PM’ed and in-game mailed.

DO:

• Keep your gripes about members, rants, issues to a private place far away from member’s eyes. I don’t begrudge guild leaders or officers the right to blow off steam. Make sure it remains private, however.
• Expect and demand your guild officers to uphold and follow your guild’s rules and charter just like every other member must. If they break a rule, then they should be punished in the exact same manner you have deemed fit for a member.
• Listen to your guild members, even when it’s the fiftieth time George the Wizard has complained to you about the epics purple unicorn hat that has been bugged for weeks that everyone knows about. George probably just needs an ear to listen to him, and guess what? As guild leader or officer you unofficially signed up to do this. If listening to people gripe and complain gets on your nerves you might want to consider rethinking your position—because you will be doing this for your entire tenure as guild leader/officer.
• Be courteous, kind, and polite. Whether you know it or not, part of the job guild leader/officer is customer service. You signed up to be the ears and eyes for either the guild leader as officer, or the head/boss of a group of people. Therefore, not only are they all going to look at you as well as to you for examples being lead, they’re going to want to talk to you and bring their issues or problems to you. Officers will either be expected to bring such issues to the guild leader, while working to keep any ruffled feathers smooth. If you are a jerk to your members, the only message you’re getting through is that your guild doesn’t care and you might find yourself out of a few dozen members. Quickly.
• Know the difference between being honest and just being crass and rude. Honesty is a hard pill to swallow, but you can still be bluntly, brutally honest with someone without calling them names, resorting to swearing, mocking or dragging their name through the mud. For example: “Well you can’t get that piece of epix gear because, quite frankly, you suck.” Or“Well, I think that you might not be able to get that piece of epix gear because you might be doing something wrong. Here’s what I think: …” See the difference?
• Put your foot down and don’t be afraid to do so. There is no reason for any guild leader or officer to put up with really nasty crap for a long period of time. Despite all your best efforts of being polite and reasonable, some members or people just won’t get it. Don’t be afraid to cut these members loose. Deal with continuously problematic members without hesitation or fear, courteous does not mean you need to be a welcome mat. You can be a nice hard-ass and you will no doubt learn how to do so as a guild leader or officer.
• Have as much fun as possible with your members and fellow officers, leaders. If you aren’t having fun in a game you’re paying to play—well—what are you doing playing it?
• Try and keep your officer and fellow guild leader roster full. No one can run a guild by themselves, no matter what they say. Burn out happens, real life happens, computer trouble happens. Eventually the inevitable might come to pass, and if the guild only has one leader, where does that leave the guild?
• Take breaks. When you find that you just want to throttle someone, find yourself yelling at the monitor or disliking the game that’s a good sign that you might want to take a break. It’s also a great way to avoid burn out which happens a lot in officer/leader positions. Tell your leader or fellow officers that you need some time away and go do other things to refuel and recharge.

There are no doubt hundreds of other little things you, as a member, officer, or leader can do to ensure a kick-ass guild experience, but these to me are the most important. Hope these have helped you in some way and happy gaming!

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Several months ago I found a recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs here: Appetite for China - Tea Eggs

I thought to myself, that, as unusual as it sounded to my big fat Canadian/American tastes, I bet it would actually taste really good.

So today, I made myself a batch of them for the first time and I can safely say that if you like boiled eggs you will love these. They will make your entire house smell like awesomesauce while they are cooking as well.

So how to they taste? Very, very, very faint sweetness and salty with normal everyday boiled eggs. The flavor is very light (after simmering for two hours) and I almost wish I’d let them cook for three just to see if the flavor deepened. Shawn and I ate ours on a bed of plain rice with a dash of soy sauce and enjoyed the hells out of it. (Read: NOM OUM NOM NOM)

For those of you afraid of clicking links, here’s the recipe if you are curious about trying them yourself:

Chinese Tea Eggs - 茶叶蛋 （cháyèdàn)

• 6 medium to large
• 2 tablespoons or 2 tea bags of black tea or Pu’erh
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 4 pieces star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon cracked black peppercorn (optional)
• 2 to 3 strips dried mandarin peel (optional)

Put eggs in a medium-sized pot with enough water to cover the eggs. Bring water to boil, then lower heat to simmer for 3 minutes. Remove eggs from heat and allow them to cool a bit before handling (running them under cold water does the trick quickly.) Take the back of a knife and crack eggs evenly all around.

Return eggs to the pot and add the rest of the ingredients. Bring liquid to boil again, then simmer for 1 to 3 hours, longer for a more intense flavor and color, adding water if level gets too low. Remove from heat, and serve as a snack or addition to rice or noodles.

Really really easy recipe and you know, you could make them the night before a picnic or a long trip and have something delicious to snack on later.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mel food post without actual pictures of my food. Brought to you by: Geek, and Canon.

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Portrait examples for you to preview:
[Dryad]
[Corry]
[Jodiah Ayreg]
[Horam JakChar]

Contacting me for Commissions:
E-mail:

elf_fu@null2phatgeeks.com

Details regarding commission will be confined to e-mails. Do not contact me via messenger to discuss details, please! I do not want to lose any important information!

Sizes and Prices:
800×600 uncolored no background = 5$ via paypal.
800×600 colored/painted no background = 15$ via paypal

1000×1000 uncolored no background = 10$
1000×1000 colored no background = 35$

Larger commissions/backgrounds available upon request, price to be discussed at time of commission.

Payment Accepted:

50% of commission rate is required in advance and is non refundable.

Remaining 50% due upon completion.

If after 14 days after completion you are not satisfied, do not hesitate to contact me and I will be more than happy to refund your 50% of remaining commission.

Information you MUST provide:
As much detail as possible, as specifically as possible. If I am drawing your character, I need the obvious–eye color, hair color, build, etc. But don’t be afraid to delve into it. Tell me about how they smile, the shape of their face, if their eyes are oval of round and so on and so forth. The more detail you give me, the better I can draw your character how you see them, the more satisfied you will be with the commission. Works out pretty good, right?

If you have a reference photo or an image of someone who generally shares similar features with your character, please feel free to share it with me. Alternatively, if your character looks like Angelina Jolie (actress used as example,) let me know too.

Color images are more expensive due to the fact they almost always take me far longer and some times come out looking a little different than their original sketch.

Should you have ANY questions or comments do not hesitate to contact me at 1.

elf_fu@null2phatgeeks.com

Thank you so much, and I look forward to hearing from you!

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Guess what chicken butt

Picked up drawing again just for a role playing character I have. Generally, the best way for me to represent my character is to draw them. But usually my own self doubt gets in the way (see: last drow image.)

INSPIRATION: The very talented Shalom. She had the perfect face.

IF ANYONE HAS any suggestions on how to draw curly hair, I will love you forever and even call you George :s

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It is due, in many great parts, to a large eighteen pound cat we put on a diet the end of last year.

It can start any time at night, some times it starts as early as midnight, some times we catch a break and it starts around 5am. Most nights, it starts around 1am to 3am, and is constant until one of us says some rather nasty crap and gets out of bed to feed the land beast we call Raven.

The ritual for the cat begins with her claws on the side of our bed which she uses to haul herself up. The edge of the bed she uses is now a mess of pit marks, claw swipes and the california King cotton sheets are plucked from her claws; making smooth look knubbed. Once she manages to haul herself onto the bed, she begins her rounds. These start at the feet.

Since Raven is some how physically unable to retract her seven foot long claws, having her walk over our feet every morning is a study in how well we can stand bleedingdeathpain. See figure A:

Figure A

She used to do this on our heads, but I grew wise to this, so as you can see with Figure A, I scoot down the bed every night I crawl into it. I sacrifice my feet for my head–I figure thinking is just as important as walking.

Once she is thoroughly finished leaving new holes within our ankles, she makes a 3/4 circut around the bed, trundling up the left side and across the head of the bed. The delightful part to remember while picturing this is that she is an old cat, and tends to bring gifts with her when she gets up on the bed: some times litter is clumped on the back of her legs, some times my hair. It’s always an adventure in ew, great, now I have to wash the entire bed again. Thanks. While she is doing this, she will often sniff for any random pieces of food that may have mysteriously rained down from heaven and landed on our pillows. The approximate sound I can compare Raven’s sniffing too is the sound of an elephants trunk shoved into your ear. See figure B:

Figure B

Now that I am good and wide awake, contemplating honorable suicide or becomming a nun, Raven will gracefully heave herself to the floor, wait anywhere from five to ten minutes and do it all again.

My sleep at night has turned into a series of unfortunate naps. I long the for the days of sleep that lasted two hours or more before some sort of interruption–Flora, get off the ceiling fan. No, Flora, the blinds are not a jungle gym. Flora! Stop knocking the computer on the floor!

For now I guess I’ll just have to stock up on really good band aids and get used to curling into a fetal position in the middle of my bed while the demented snuffleupagus that is my cat shark-circles around us and I wonder what it’s like to get a full night’s sleep.

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