Gamer Girl Confessions

The Blog Has Moved

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 19:48:00 +0000

Just a notice that posts will no longer be updated at this URL. If you would like to continue following the blog, and stay up to date on other content creation (streaming, YouTube, podcast, etc.), please visit my migrated blog!

GAMERGIRLCONFESSIONS.COM

Ch-Ch-Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 16:35:00 +0000

Moving to Wordpress

As a thank you to Beej, I'm pimping his stuff. Because he's a great content creator, too!!

When I first started up my Patreon back in January 2017, one of the big goals I wanted to hit was to move over to WordPress and get a domain name. I'd yet to hit that goal, but it just so happened that Beej saw that goal on my Patreon and offered me space over on WordPress.

So the blog will be moving very soon (I'm hoping by April 17 at the latest)! I'm in the process of re-designing the pages at the moment, as well as trying to settle on a theme, and whether I need plug-ins. And before I move over, I'll export all my blog posts, then make a final post here redirecting folks... It's a bit daunting, but I appreciate all of the help that folks have offered as I've had questions or issues. I'm looking forward to learning my way through WordPress.

Patreon

I've had a Patreon for a while. But I always feel weird mentioning it, even though I know I really need to promote it more. So I'm just going to leave this here, and ask that if you'd like to make a monthly donation, please do! I also have a link on Patreon to my Ko-fi account if you'd rather do a one-time donation. There are both SFW and NSFW tiers available for those that are interested, and anything of $2+ gets access to Discord! So check it out. Get a thank you on my blog. Get to vote on what I game. Get other fun things if you're so inclined. It's a win-win for everybody!

Pretty Birbs

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 17:13:00 +0000

Posting this a week after the fact, but...

Image from Ru

IRON CIRCLE DEFEATED HEROIC ARGUS!

Congrats to all that were there on the first kill (March 29, 2018)! I'm hoping we can get the mount for some more guildies. A few folks have poked officers about it, and I think they're concocting something along the same lines as the Moose? I hope so, anyway.

We've only downed him once, so far. But I'm sure we'll get him on farm soon, so long as we can skip Coven. We've also only downed them once, and they are murder for us, apparently. I think I might be the only one in guild who enjoys the Coven fight.

Image from Moo

We skipped raiding on Monday, and we struggled a bit last night just due to lack of numbers, but we're pushing back through for another full clear.

Maybe one of these days I'll get my final piece for my four piece of tier... (That's at least something I am looking forward to in Battle for Azeroth—no tier.)

Transmog and Trial of Style

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 02:09:00 +0000

Transmog and Me

This one was both "Epic Purple" and "Everyday Hero". It's Chest's consistent transmog.

I've never really gotten into transmogrification in WoW. The biggest reason is that it got introduced into the game back in November 2011—about a month before I quit playing WoW for a long period, and moved over to EVE.

Then from EVE (which does have some pretty awesome character customization, despite the lack of ever really seeing your character), I hopped over into WildStar. Even in WildStar, I didn't get too fancy with my costumes, outside of my Zatanna attempt.

WildStar has a pretty freaking stellar costuming system that a lot of games should take notes on. I hold WildStar up as the epitome of costume customization. Easy to save your current character look via copying a code string so you can come back to it. And then you can pretty much have unlimited costumes, if you're willing to buy the slots for them. Another cool feature in WildStar—if your plate wearing toon obtains some plate, you can costume it onto a non-plate wearing toon. Sold!

So when I came back to WoW, and I was interested about getting into transmog, it felt clunky and annoying compared to what I was used to. So I just kinda... didn't.

Strike a Pose (Vogue)

Shaelee's "Summer" themed outfit

That's changed a little bit since I tried out the Trial of Style on its most recent round through town. I'm still not one hundred percent sold on transmog, but I'm a bit more willing to try to play around with it if inspiration strikes me.

Participating in the event was fun, but kind of stressful, in a way. I have a clothie (Macadamia), two mail toons (Shaelee and Hazelnutt), and a plate toon (Chestnaught) that were easy to cycle through. The leather is where I had a difficult time.

Both of my high-level leather toons are toons that I no longer play, nor plan to play, except for maybe grabbing the initial 500 Timewalking badges on occasion. They sit there, at the bottom of my character list, and I do nothing with them. So choosing one to participate in the Trial of Style was difficult.

My outfit which kind of feels like a tribute to Aquaman!

I ended up choosing Chestnut, and using the same costume for all the competitions just to get them out of the way and get the gear, but I'm very proud of her costumes. I do need to roll up a new Druid and Monk, though, so I have leather toons. Maybe I'll make them Highmountain Tauren.

I had more fun than I thought I would at the Trial of Style. I'm still not sold on transmog overall, but I'm willing to give it a bit more of thought and start really collecting items for it.

Mar '18 Gaming Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Sun, 04 Mar 2018 00:12:00 +0000

The Goals

It's that time again to put together gaming goals for the month so I don't just faff about and waste my gaming time.

She looks happy to start!

World of Warcraft

Level Chest-Dwarf to 60 (then boost to 110) for "Double Agent" achievement
Reach Honored with both Wrynn's Vanguard & Vol'jin's Spear (on Warriors)
Level Macadamia to 110 (towards "Quintessential Quintet" achievement)
Obtain flying in Draenor

Finish "Nagrandeur" achievement
"Explore Shadowmoon Valley" achievement
"Explore Nagrand" achievement
"Securing Draenor" achievement
Revered with The Saberstalkers
Revered with Order of the Awakened
Revered with Vol'jin's Headhunters

Secret World Legends

Play more of my Dragon character
Upload first Let's Play video

#IntPiPoMo 2017 Results are In

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Sat, 24 Feb 2018 00:56:00 +0000

The List

Thank you to the few folks who participated in 2017. I don't know if there just wasn't a draw for folks to participate this year, or if there's a larger "nobody really blogs anymore" thing going on, (or maybe I didn't advertise enough) but there was sadly a downturn in participants. So I want to call out these wonderful folks as bloggers that attempt to keep a regular pace with their blogging. (If you're unsure what #IntPiPoMo is, you can check out the starter post for 2017, and mark your calendars for 2018!)

Some Stats

Even though there weren't many participants, I wanted to give some statistics like I normally do on the wrap-up.

Six (6) total blogs participated in this challenge (Seven (7) if you count my own shaky participation). This is approximately half of the number that participated last year (14).
All particpant blogs posted at least 5 images.
Five (5) blogs posted at least 25 images.
Five (5) blogs posted at least 50 images.
Three (3) blogs went above and beyond the 50 images.
The highest number of posted images was 94, followed by 77, and then 73.

The Winners

I offered up prizes again this year, so let's review what they were, and the winners!

Grand Prize - Of all participants who complete 50 photos, I will be using a RNG (random.org) to draw a winner for a Steam game worth up to $15! This is also exchangeable for an MMO subscription.

And the winner is... Inventory Full

Three Other Prizes - Of all participants to complete the 25+ photos (up to and including those who make it to 50 pictures), I will be using a RNG (random.org) to draw three winners for a Steam game worth up to $10! And the winners are... Well, for this one, that left one person out in the cold, so, every single participant that posted at least 25 shots is going to get goodies this year! That includes (in alphabetical order):

I'll be reaching out to everyone via Twitter (or other contact if you didn't list a Twitter account on sign up) to dish out prizes!

Thank you again to everybody who participated. I'm hoping next year we have a renewed interest in participating!

Dec '17 Gaming Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Mon, 25 Dec 2017 15:23:00 +0000

Cutting it Close

She's dreaming of a white Christmas.

I realize that there's only a week left in December, but I wanted to try to set a few goals for myself for the week, especially since life will be a bit lighter than usual. It'll also focus the free time I have available.

The Goals

So, here we go! What do I want to try to accomplish this last week of December?

World of Warcraft

There's a few of the holiday achievements I don't have that I'd like to work towards, however, I also don't have other stuff unlocked/obtained to work towards them (again, I've talked about it before, but if achievements are going to be account bound, they should damn well be actually account bound!!). Such as the reputation with Ogri'la, a Gaudy Sweater, a Crashin' Flyer, the Iron Armada set, etc.

Level Arraign (Horde DK) to 90 towards "Quintessential Quintet"
Level Chestnaught (Alliance Warrior) to 55 towards "Double Agent"
"Crashing' & Thrashin'" achievement
"Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho's" achievement
"Let It Snow" achievement
Obtain a Globe Yeti (since I just found out about them, oh, yesterday)

Secret World Legends

Get Ky (Chest? I'm not sure how to refer to her...) to level 5

Nov '17 Gaming Goals Review

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Sun, 24 Dec 2017 17:38:00 +0000

Last month I started back up with my gaming goals, in an effort to give myself some goals to get myself blogging again. So let's take a look at how I did with them, shall we?

She's sad that there was so little time to game as of late.

The Goals

I lacked time to game throughout November and December. Real life sort of ends up getting in the way at the end of the year. It's something I'll have to take into account for next year. Or try to remember to take into account. I always remember about it in hindsight!

World of Warcraft

There are a few achievements that I didn't even begin to touch, such as "Well Read" and "Turkey Lurkey". I worked on leveling my Death Knight towards "Quintessential Quintet", though only got her about six or seven levels. Same with leveling my dwarf towards "Double Agent". I did complete "Friend or Fowl?" because it was an easy two minute achievement.

I surprisingly ended up completing "Raiding with Leashes", mainly because I didn't need many pets to finish, and RNG was on my side. I haven't been so lucky with "Raiding with Leashes II", yet. I only grabbed myself a Menagerie Custodian, but I've been getting lots of Wolves and Custodians since, while trying to grab the Imp and Abyssal. No luck on any drops in SSC or TK.

Secret World Legends

I ended up rolling up my dragon for my new Let's Play YouTube videos, and I've been playing a bit of her, trying to build up some back log of videos. I've never played a Dragon before, and have been having some fun. So, I achieved and even surpassed my goal of just rolling her up.

I also rolled up a RP toon to try to get into RP for the first time in a very long time (in MMOs, anyway). Sadly, I haven't had much time to play her, but I'm hoping to rectify that a bit in the coming week so I can spend time gaming with folks, as well. I'm excited to get into her, though. I've a bit of a story concocted, but I need to spend a bit of time writing it up and putting it into the SWLRP mod.

Other

I ended up not touching my otomes at all, but I'm hoping to do a bit of that this coming week as well. I'll be laying out some new goals to just finish out the month of December, and then starting fresh in January with a longer, updated, list.

Raiding with Leashes

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 17:04:00 +0000

This post is a part of #IntPiPoMo 2017. You can find more information and sign up to participate here.

I mentioned working on this achievement in my monthly gaming goals post, and I finished it sooner than I expected, to be honest. All I had left was the Viscidus Globule, Giant Bone Spider, and Stitched Pup, and I'd finally obtain Mr. Bigglesworth (putting me one step closer to Crazy Cat Lady).. but the RNGods have never really been in my favor.

Before I did anything, I decided to see how much they were on the Auction House, because I really didn't want to trek all over on tons of different toons. However, after breaking down and getting the Viscidus Globule on the AH for 14k, I decided it was probably worth my time to just go farm the dang things. I know a lot of people won't think that 14k is a lot, and it isn't that much, but when you only have 300k gold to your name, one is kind of stingy. And at least it cut out having to trek over to AQ40 until I wanted to just get the achievement, or was working on transmog farming (which is low priority—pets first!).

I hit up Naxxramas on Chestnaught to see what I could get, and ended up with the pet from Loatheb (which I already have two of thanks to generous guildies), as well as the one off of Maexxna. Gluth was not kind to me, sadly. Nor were tier drops, for that matter. So since Naxx is so easy to get to, I'll have to make farming both normal and heroic Dreadnaught Battlegear one of my first transmog goals. Anyway, the spider is gross. I'm super afraid of even Daddy Long Legs (yes, I know they aren't spiders), so I put this guy out, took a picture, and put him right back. Blech. But at least I have him, now! And I'll level him eventually when Squirt is back on the 30th (NA realms).

So, since Gluth didn't put out for Chest, I hopped on my hunter, Hazelnutt, and decided to just hit up the Construct Quarter. She didn't get lucky either. So off to the shaman, Shaelee! Only hit up the Construct Quarter up to Gluth as well, but she surprisingly ended up getting lucky. He's cute in a kind of disgusting way. It was a bit annoying to try to run even old content as a healer, so I guess I'll have to finally bite the bullet and get my enhancement weapon on her.

And so, I have finally obtained the adorable Mr. Bigglesworth! I also ended up with pretty much every 10 Man achievement on Chest on my run through. Which, honestly, is my top pet peeve in WoW. If achievements are truly supposed to be account bound, why on earth do I not get credit on the toon if I've already completed it on another! I shouldn't be spamming guild chat with achievements I got back when it was current content when I was playing my Druid. That defeats the whole purpose, Blizzard. Fucking fix it. I don't mind if I can't get credit cross-characters for most achievements. That's fine. Whatever. But I want the credit for the ones I've done, instead of a "Not completed on XTOON." when I mouse over something.

#IntPiPoMo Count: 20/50

Buh-Bye KJ

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 01:47:00 +0000

This post is a part of #IntPiPoMo 2017. You can find more information and sign up to participate here.

A bit delayed, but just a quick hurrah that Iron Circle finally said buh-bye to Kil'jaeden on November 6th!

Some people are blocking other people, but I tried my best! ;P

Congrats to all that were there on our first kill, and our second kill yesterday! Hopefully we can get in another kill or two to get achievements for a few more folks in the raid team. It's exciting to have him down. It means I can start working on my gaming to do list a bit more!

So proud of Iron Circle.

#IntPiPoMo Count: 15/50

Nov '17 Gaming Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 00:23:00 +0000

Starting Back Up

This post is a part of #IntPiPoMo 2017. You can find more information and sign up for participate here.

I used to do a thing where I put together gaming goals every month. And then I fell off the blogging and gaming bandwagon for a good while. These gaming goals help keep me from floundering around in gaming, and focus my limited free time so I just don't sit there and scroll through Facebook.

The Goals

She's totally sure they'll all get done...

Without further ado, here's my gaming goals checklist.

World of Warcraft

"Well Read" achievement
"Friend or Fowl?" achievement
Level a fourth 110 (towards "Quintessential Quintet" achievement)
"Double Agent" achievement
"Raiding with Leashes" achievement (Giant Bone Spider, Stitched Pup, Viscidus Globule)
"Raiding with Leashes II" achievement (Netherspace Abyssal, Tideskipper, Coilfang Stalker, Lesser Voidcaller, Menagerie Custodian, Fiendish Imp, Tainted Waveling, Pocket Reaver, Phoenix Hawk Hatchling)
"Turkey Lurkey" achievement

Secret World Legends

Roll up my Dragon for my new LP YouTube videos

Other

Image by Chic-Pixel

Did I mention it's #VNNovember for the Community Game-Along challenge? That works out well, considering I want to try to get through the five million dating sims I've going at the same time (I'm currently playing Norn9, Sweet Fuse, Period Cube, Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya, Dream Daddy, Pub Encounter, and Seduce Me 2).

Finish Mitarashi's route in Sweet Fuse
Start Urabe's route in Sweet Fuse
Finish Takigawa's Happy and Super Happy routes in Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya

#IntPiPoMo Count: 13/50

Wilcox Legacy: Meet Willow Wilcox

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 05:44:00 +0000

Delving Back In

This post is a part of #IntPiPoMo 2017. You can find more information and sign up to participate here.

Back in February, I mentioned that I was going to purchase and play Sims4. And I started to, but never really did much with it. One of my favorite things to do in Sims, besides dressing my Sims up, is to do Legacy challenges. I've never been one to be big into building houses (I hate it, to be blunt), and I'm not one to sit there and let my Sims just sim their way through life. I get my greatest enjoyment out of tracking a legacy, and writing it.

Old Legacies

Tamara and Buddy. They were the sweetest couple I've played with in Sims to date.

For a while, back in 2011-2013, I was pretty regularly playing Sims3, and had a separate blog tracking a legacy I was working on. A computer crash brought an end to that, sadly. But I also started to feel "meh" about writing it. I had always written my legacies in first person, on separate blogs, and it just became too much.

So I'm starting up a new one with Sims4, but I'm not putting it on a separate blog, and I'm going to try writing it in third person for a change. Making it more story, rather than narration. I'm hoping that since I won't have to worry about maintaining a separate blog, and letting it be more for fun and a creative writing outlet, that I'll have much more fun with it. I've yet to finish a legacy, and I would very much like to!

Meet Willow!

So, meet the founder of my legacy, Willow Wilcox! I'm running the legacy with the Equality/Modern/Random Succession Law. Enjoy some basic information and the obligatory fashion dump before I begin. Also, is she not fucking adorable?!

Name: Willow Wilcox
Aspiration: Nerd Brain
Traits: Bookworm, Cheerful, Good

#IntPiPoMo Count: 12/50

#IntPiPoMo is Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 04:15:00 +0000

IntPiPoMo?

IntPiPoMo, or International Picture Posting Month is the image equivalent of National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo). NaNoWriMo focuses on writing 50,000 words over the course of the month of November. So, if a picture is a thousand words, that means that IntPiPoMo requires fifty pictures

These can be anything from screenshots from any game, to photographs you take in real life and want to share on your blog. Seriously, they can be anything—character selfies, shots of combat, sharing your game UI, showing off all those pretty new scenery shots with the new graphics card you got... you get the idea.

IntPiPoMo was started back in 2011 by Angelya of Revive & Rejuventate. In 2013, Jojo of Admiring Azeroth picked up the initiative. In 2015, Jojo passed it along to me, as she was out of the country and unable to run it. I changed it up a bit when I took over, offering some prizes for those that completed, and I plan to do so again this year. I'm hoping to continue to do the initiative justice, and I'm excited to see what kinds of screenshots and pictures folks are going to share!

How to Participate

Fill out this form to let me know you are participating! You can join at any time throughout the month of November!
Take the icon (original size 800x800) and use it on your site! Link back to this post so folks know where to go and what to do.
Aim to post fifty (50) images of your own creation/taking throughout the month of November.

There is no strict posting schedule or theme to adhere to, but feel free to bounce ideas off of fellow participants!
Feel free to post these images as a once-a-week batch, or throughout the week in small doses.

Use the #IntPiPoMo hastag when you share your blog posts via social media.

What Do You Get?

Well, duh, the satisfaction that you completed the challenge! However, I am offering a few prizes again this year.

Grand Prize - Of all participants who complete 50 images, I will be using a RNG (random.org) to draw a winner for a game up to $15 on Steam (game time for an MMO can be worked out if preferred)!
Three Other Prizes - Of all participants who complete 25+ images (up to and including those who make it to 50), I will be using a RNG (random.org) to draw three winners for a game up to $10 on Steam!

-------------------------------------

The List

Updated Nov 4, 2017 - 0203 EST

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FAQ

Updated Nov 2, 2017 - 0013 EST

I got some great questions last year, and I'd like to continue the answers. Don't hesitate to reach out if your question isn't answered here!

Q: Can I sign up during the event itself? I don't know if I can/want to participate.
A: Of course! You could sign up the final day, though I don't suggest it.

Q: I don't want to put these on my main blog. Can I use my Tumblr?
A: Yep! Tumblr is a form of blogging called micro-blogging. Some people also have micro-blogs on other platforms, too. All these micro-blogs are welcome as a part of the event!

Q: You mentioned photography being allowed, but what if I wanted to share some artwork throughout the month. Can I use it as a part of my submissions?
A: Yes! Whether it's digital artwork, sculpting, knitting, etc., any form of creativity can tell just as much of a story as words can. Who am I to tell you that you can't use these as well?

Q: I really don't want to fill up my blog with photos. Can I participate and utilize photos as a part of my regular posts to count?
A: Indeed! Images don't always convey everything you want to write, and sometimes you don't want to make images the focus of a post. You are more than welcome to count images that you include as a part of a written post, so long as they are your own screenshots/photos.

Q: Can I create an animated GIF of images to get my point across?
A: So long as the images/screenshots are your own, feel free to create a GIF! However, at this point, it will only be counted as one image towards the total.

Q: Do I have to take all new shots? Or can I utilize shots I've already taken?
A: There is no need to take new shots, but I ask that you utilize shots that have not yet been posted in any other blog post, please!

My Bujo Journey, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 18:41:00 +0000

The "before".

This is the second part of my post on bullet journaling. To get a background on what I'll be covering in this post, head on over to the first part!

A look at my system before Bullet Journaling was pretty revealing. I was spending way too much time and energy trying to stay organized, rather than actually being organized. So I decided to try the bujo method after hearing about it from Jaedia.

The Bullet Journal Method

You can watch this nifty video on Bullet Journaling to get an idea on what it's all about. But the TL;DR is—"[it] is a customizable and forgiving organization system. It can be your to-do list, sketchbook, notebook, and diary, but most likely, it will be all of the above...".

And it's true. My bujo has become all these things. It might seem confusing at first, but once you sit down and do it, it really does become second nature. And keeping it up to date is simple. It takes me five minutes at night to update tasks, notes, write my gratitudes, track my habits, and set myself up for the following day. Maybe it takes me ten or fifteen minutes if I decide I need to journal on top of it.

It took me about an hour to set up January because I was learning how to bullet journal, and I was setting up the yearly items (Index, Future Log, Yearly Gaming Log, etc.). It took me about a half hour to set up February, even with all the lines and boxes I drew out for the various logs I decided I wanted.

My Bullet Journal

I'm not going to be showing pictures of my bujo, as some of it is kind of personal, but I use it as a replacement for most of the items I covered in my first post, and I'll talk about it.

Getting the supplies was the easy part. I just purchased the cheapest dot grid notebook I could find on Amazon that had a decent rating. You don't need anything fancy. In fact, when I was waiting on this to come in, I just used one of my lined journals (which, admittedly, I didn't enjoy as much, but it was something).

I also have a set of erasable pens that I absolutely adore made by Pilot. I like being able to erase (I hate scribbling thing out—it drives me crazy), but I also like the flow and feel of writing with a pen. These pens have been a godsend for me in that regard. Especially since they come in different colors. Unfortunately, I've only been able to find refills in Black, but that's okay, because they're the pens I use the most often out of the pack.

I decorated my journal a bit with some scrapbooking supplies, and I used sharpies (lesson learned for next time: Don't. Use colored pencils instead.) to color code the edges of my pages as a secondary index (for instance, January is red and in a specific spot every time it's a page relating to January). But all this isn't necessary to bujo. There are plenty of people who use a minimalist approach, and honestly on a day-to-day basis, I use a minimalist approach. There's barely anything decorated, and I only use cursive because I write faster in cursive than I do in print.

How the Systems Compare

Trello - I used this to track my media. Now, I have pages in my bujo dedicated to each type of media: games to play (listed), books to read (listed), comics to read (listed), comics to buy to try (listed), movies to watch (listed), and television shows to watch (using a grid-like system). Just to name a few.
Google Calendar - I still use this as a backup for when I don't have my bujo, or when I need to pull up an address to GPS, or when I need an alarm reminder for a specific event.
Plum Planner - The bullet journal itself has taken on the job of my old plum planner.
Sticky Notes - I still have some laying around, but they're more for when I'm tanking in raids. For instance, when I have to drag Cenarius around in Emerald Nightmare, I'll write what marker order to drag him to (shorthand) and put it on my second monitor. They are no longer a to-do list or random thought dump area.
Tumblr - This used to be my journal. My journal has since completely moved to my bujo, and I'll probably save my important posts and delete it.
Gratitude Journal - This has completely moved over to my bujo as two pages in the front of the month. I have space to write two shorter items, or one long one every day.
Legal pads - Everything I did on these (to-do lists, menu and grocery planning, thought dumps, etc.) have since moved over to my bujo. They're kind of just sitting and collecting dust, now.
Magnetized Memo Pads - I still keep these on the fridge to write down what I'm out of when I notice I'm out of it, but other than that, they don't get used for anything. Stuff I need to buy gets copied into my menu/grocery page for the week and off I go to the grocery with my bujo.

Overall I've seen a vast improvement on my stress/anxiety levels, and my pocketbook is glad to have much less in it on a daily basis.

#FitGeekFriday: Welcome to Twin Peaks

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 16:58:00 +0000

Original Image from Geek Fitness

This week has been a decisively Twin Peaks heavy geek out on my end. Probably because I saw the teaser trailer (see item 2) and got all excited. I hope y'all like Twin Peaks. Or at least are intrigued by it!

Twin Peaks Meets Pole

I like watching pole videos for a lot of reasons. First, I like seeing what kind of moves and tricks are in my future. Second, everyone is just such a great performer! Third, I like getting ideas for flows and transitions for when I get my pole at home and am able to pole every day just for fun and practice. I guess YouTube saw that I had been watching Twin Peaks related content, and showed this to me as a recommended video. It's amazing, and the way it is cut fits perfectly with the song. Worth a watch, whether you like pole or not.

Twin Peaks Teaser Trailer

This is the teaser trailer that sent me down the rabbit hole this week. Because, holy crap! I'm so excited for the new Twin Peaks series! A friend gave me their Showtime login information just so I could watch it as it goes come May.

Diane Podcast

Image from the podcast's Facebook page

Diane is a podcast I recently discovered, actually, after they favorited one of my fangirl Twin Peaks tweets. Every episode, they discuss an episode of Twin Peaks, including trivia, continuity, allusions to literature and other media, critical analysis, etc. I love learning new things and listening to their thoughts on the episodes. They also give a quick synopsis of the episode so you can follow along even if you haven't watched the episodes recently. There are spoilers, though, so if you've never watched Twin Peaks, my suggestion is to watch the episode they discuss before listening. If you have trouble with UK accents, however, this may not be your cuppa.

A Slice of Pie

Image from Etsy

If you know Twin Peaks, you know how important pie (and coffee) is in the show. And this is the perfect Twin Peaks necklace. I love kitchy jewelry. It makes me happy. I especially love kitchy jewelry that reminds me of fandoms I enjoy. For instance, one of my favorite necklaces is a bee on a honeycomb because it reminds me of The Secret World. I'd love to get this necklace one day just because.

Thank You, Angelo Badalamenti

I've also been spending a lot of time listening to this playlist in between podcasts when I need more of a "focus background music" type thing instead of a "I can listen to podcasts and work" type thing. The soundtrack to Twin Peaks is unique, and expresses so much about the show. It's definitely worth a listen.

#FitGeekFriday: It Begins

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Sat, 25 Feb 2017 02:07:00 +0000

Original image from Geek Fitness

#FitGeekFriday is something that Professor Beej has put together, once again, to share what he's geeking out about regarding the "...fitnessy, mindful, hodge-podge of cool stuff I’ve found." Way back when this was a linked initiative, I participated, so I figured I'd make it a thing on the blog again and participate that way, because I always write too much to make it viable for Twitter.

Pole Goals

Eda is one of the reasons I started pole.

I've mentioned it before (mainly on Twitter, but here as well), but pole dancing has consumed my life. I'll get into the details of why doing it as exercise has been good for me on so many levels in another blog post, but something that I'm geeking out about this week is the pole goals my instructor and I finally set in stone, and some are even checked off! I saw this idea in one of the pole groups I'm a part of, and I thought it was a really cool idea to try out to track my progress in pole. She has a book from when she got certified with X-Pole, and we went through it today, and I've completed pretty much everything in Level 1 of pole minus three spins, and all the stuff regarding climbing. For now, we're going to be working on the spins, and building up my core and upper body strength to start on the climbs. We figure, depending on when I can get a pole at home, that I'll be able to "test out" (there's no official test, though some places test your abilities to move into the next level of classes) of level 1 and into level 2 around August or September.

Quest Bars

Before I go to pole classes on Monday and Friday (which are late in the day), I've been eating a Quest bar for a protein boost and to have a snack because I won't be eating dinner until close to 9 PM at night (I don't like eating a full meal before exercise). I've had Quest Bars before, but never really got into them because I didn't like the exercise I was doing, and didn't care about nutrition and, well, I wasn't in the best place to begin with. However, recently, I've really gotten into them, and I've been warily trying out flavors based on what the grocery store has. My overall favorite so far is Cookie Dough, but the grocery hasn't had it, so I've tried Cookies and Cream, Double Chocolate Chip, and S'mores which have all been pretty tasty, too.

NCIS Binge

I cried so much... (Image from CBS)

I've been binging NCIS on Netflix because I needed a somewhat-mindless television show that, even when it had "IN THE FEELS" episodes, ended on a somewhat happy or bittersweet note. (My anxiety and depression have been in flux, and a majority of shows just don't feel good.) NCIS fit that bill perfectly. I'm surprised that I made it through all 13 seasons available. I usually "jump the shark" between season 3 and season 5. While I did think some of Season 11 and 12 were draggy, and the writing wasn't the best, and it was kind of annoying, it wasn't to the point where I didn't want to not watch anymore.

Epsom Salts

These are my new jam. Pole is fun, but it's a full body workout, and it's hard. And sometimes even two days later, a part of me is still sore, depending what I did in class. I've been loving soaking in these because I got a milk and honey one, and they smell amazing, and I hurt way less after soaking for a half hour or so. I've also been using these as a self-care thing when I'm not sore, and I love it.

Monstress

Image from Hypable

While I've been soaking in the tub, I've been enjoying catching up on my comic books. I've recently started Monstress, which my brother got me this past Christmas. I'm two chapters into the first volume, and I've found it enjoyable so far. I'm looking forward to finishing it, and putting together a more comprehensive blog post on my thoughts for the volume.

A New (TSW) Leaf

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 17:51:00 +0000

The Original Let's Play

Back when I started playing The Secret World again, Chaide and I decided we should do it as a Let's Play, and we roped one of our friends in to play with us. Eventually we roped another friend or two to play with us, and I have this lovely back catalog of Let's Play videos to put together starring all of us.

However, I haven't been able to bring myself to work on them. Mainly, it's due to the fact that Chaide is there in those videos. The other (smaller) reason, is that the back log is just massive. Tons of gigs of video to convert and put together. But even when I feel like putting the videos together, I open it up, listen to a moment of Chaide's voice, and close it down.

I've been healing fairly well through this divorce process. Some days are a cakewalk, and others not so much. I'll get there eventually. But having these videos looming over my head isn't helping that process at all.

I spent most of my New Year's Eve cleaning up the apartment and getting rid of anything that reminded me of him. A literal new beginning, as it were. But I never got rid of the digital reminders. And that's what those videos are.

A New Beginning

Image by errorc

So I'm going to be getting rid of that massive back log of video content. Just tossing it. The videos I have on YouTube will stay up there. I'll probably make a follow-up video with footage of a new character explaining that series is coming to an end, and you can find a new series called... well, whatever I decide to call it.

As a part of my healing process and moving on with my life, it doesn't behoove me to keep these videos around and to force myself to work on them.

Instead, I'm thinking of staring up a new character (y'all voted for Dragon on Twitter) and, well, either streaming or recording myself going through the missions! I currently have two Templars, and while I love the Templars, and want to finish the story out (which I might do as a LP of just me soloing the later missions and content at some point), I need a change of scenery.

The only complaint I have about this...? What about all my cool costumes and pets on my main?! Tilty, pls!

Mounts Galore

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 17:22:00 +0000

It somehow became one of those weeks where I ended up with some luck and dedication and wound up with three mounts yesterday.

That Pretty Pink Bird

I've been trying to grind out Achievements and cosmetics on my new main (Chestnaught—Chestnut probably won't get played again for a long, long time) in Warcraft for the Love is in the Air event. (A side note: some of these achievements are a pain in the butt to get since most people already have them.)

Yes, I know I technically don't need to grind them out because they are account-wide, however, the UI does not technically treat them as such, and if it's not "earned" on my main, then it doesn't count. Plus, it gives me goals to work towards and keep me interested in playing longer. After lots of grinding mobs in Everbloom this past week, I got my pretty pink bird.

Now I just need 450 more cards to get everything I want to purchase off the vendor that I don't already have.

Speed Runs Ahoy

After purchasing my new pink bird, I started grinding out the Archaeology bi-weekly quest. Before I could finish it (because 600 is a lot of fragments), I ran a speed run of Kara with some guildies, and got lucky enough to get the mount drop off of Nightbane. We ran Attumen for the mount, and he dropped it for another guildie, which was awesome.

I still plan on running Kara even though I have the mount. One, because I like helping out guildies, and two, it's just fun.

Ghostbusters

I binged on some Netflix after Kara, a Mythic+12 and my daily heroic, and decided to try to finish out my Archaeology bi-weekly quest. I only really started doing them recently, and I'm glad I did, because this bi-weekly is a mount. And he's gorgeous.

I ended up going from about 120ish Archaeology to 466 Archaeology in the process which was pretty great. I'll get to my Archaeology achievements eventually, and get it to 800, but for now I've been trying to focus on my holiday achievements.

Lookit That Perdy Thing

Also, I have a new mount that I need to go after.

Image from BlizzPro

How can you say no to a flaming mount? Now I just need to find a Battle.net friend willing to carry my sorry tush in some Heroes of the Storm for this bad boy... Any takers?

My Bujo Journey, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 20:27:00 +0000

Image from PopSugar

I'm a big to do list/day planner person. It's one of the things that helps me stay organized, and I use it as a way to assist with my depression and anxiety as a part of my cognitive behavioral therapy. In layman's terms, I use planners and lists to help manage my thoughts and feelings as a way to make healthier and safer choices for myself.

I'm also big on writing things by hand. It helps me stay focused, and keeps me more grounded in what I'm doing. It's also cathartic when I can just write and write. In a way that's different than typing. While typing things out can help sometimes, writing it down by hand gives it more meaning and permanence, and helps me work things out a little bit better than typing.

My old system, however, was starting to get a bit overwhelming, and I needed to find an alternative, and found bullet journaling.

A Look At My Old System

Trello - I use Trello to keep lists of media to consume. I'm big on media consumption—movies, television, games, visual novels, comic books, etc. Before using Trello, I didn't really have a system, and I became overwhelmed with things I wanted to try, or where I was in a particular season of a television show, for instance. Thanks to an episode of the Geek to Geek cast, I tried out making a list, and it helped tremendously to keeping me focused on what I wanted to look into, and made me feel not as guilty for possibly putting something to the side because I wasn't enjoying it.
Google Calendar - Google Calendar is what I use day-to-day outside of my Plum Planner (more on that next). I live via my Gmail, and I use it as a way to keep my contacts and calendar organized. It's a good quick on-the-go tool for me when I need to add an impromptu work meeting, a get-together with a friend, or a therapy session. And it's easy to pull out my phone rather than my Plum Planner, which can get kind of unwieldy.
Plum Planner - I like paper planners, and I liked this one because I could keep (most) everything in one place. It had pockets to keep papers, to do list sections, menu and grocery planning sections. But, the more I used it, the more wasted pages it had because I wouldn't use a particular section one week, or I'd be using another one of my systems for a few days, etc. There were also the times when my sticky notes would get lost, or papers would fall out, and I wouldn't know where something went, and it was just too big to carry around casually in my purse.
Sticky Notes - Sticky notes are my go-to "I need to jot something down to remember it now." sort of thing. Especially when I didn't have my Plum Planner around. But then they would get lost, or fall out of my planner, and it was never a good thing.
Tumblr - As a part of my CBT, my therapist likes me to attempt to journal twice a week. About anything I want. It could be extremely personal stuff, or just general things that I would/sometimes did put in the blog. For the extremely personal stuff, however, I have a private Tumblr account where I could just let it all out. But, typing never really did it for me 100%.
Gratitude Journal - As another piece of my CBT, I keep a gratitude journal. Just one or two things every day that I'm thankful for. Or that even just made me happy. I keep these in a small notebook by my bedside table.
Legal Pads - I use legal pads like nobody's business. They end up full of to do lists, but then I have a difficult time tracking if it's a repeat task (things like dishes get done every day, so did I check it off yesterday or am I behind on dishes?!). And then sometimes I end up with random thought dumps, but then if I lose the pad, I lose the thought dump, and a lot of times those were half-written out blog posts.
Magnetized Memo Pads - This one feels like a no-brainer for me. I keep magnetized pads and a container with pens (and a few things like coupons and my stamps) on the fridge. If I need to purchase something for groceries or I have a menu idea for next week, I jot it down. These then get torn off the fridge and used as my grocery list and a way to menu plan (which would then be planned out in the legal pads).

An Evaluation

This was my "organization".

As you can see, that's three digital forms of keeping memos, and five physical ways of keeping memos, all in different spots at different times of the day, with no semblance of organization. It was annoying to, for instance, need my grocery list because I was going to stop on the way home from work, but I wouldn't have it because it would be in a legal pad or on the refrigerator sitting at home. Or I'd make a thought-dump at work on my lunch break and forget to bring it home because my Plum Planner was sitting on the counter at home. Or I'd leave my planner at work by accident because it was too big for my purse and I had it out to jot something down.

I think you can see where I'm getting with this. In an effort to simplify and keep myself organized, I wasn't really doing much of anything. And while it helped for a time, it started to just feel overwhelming. So I started looking for alternatives. That's when I stumbled onto this thing called Bullet Journaling that I discovered through Jaedia, but have since found a few other bloggers that have made it a habit.

I've only been doing it a month, but it's helped tremendously. I'll delve deeper into what it is, and how I bujo (bullet journal) in another post, however, or this one will become much too wordy.

The "Gimme" List

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 21:21:00 +0000

You Need a Budget

In an attempt to reorganize my life almost-post-divorce and get expenses under control, I've gotten back into hardcore budgeting, which is something I let fall by the wayside for a long time with a two-income household (for many reasons that are really a moot point at this juncture).

A while ago, I saw a blog post go by from Liore about this neat program called You Need a Budget, or YNAB for short. It plays to the "envelope method" (though, complete disclosure, I do "borrow" from envelopes to cover other envelopes, which is supposedly a no-no to the envelope method theory) of budgeting but utilizes a sleek and effective interface that has made budgeting easy and enjoyable. Something that most folks would call an oxymoron, I'm sure.

Something I've done in my budget is to add "Gimme" items under the "Just For Fun" section of my budget. What are "Gimme" items? You know, when you make that gesture...

The "Gimme" List is Born

We've all been there. That thing catches your interest, and you have to have it... now! However, while I am not too financially strained, things are tougher to manage, and being able to make impulse purchases have become much less, well, impulsive.

That's where my "Gimme" list comes in. When I get excited about something (a trip, a convention, a game, etc.), I add it as an item in my budget, list the price next to it, and then allow myself to move money around for it.

Sometimes, that means it's going to take a few checks to cover it. Sometimes it means I can get it right away based on how my priorities change. The nice thing about using YNAB is that I can drag and drop the items to shuffle them around.

For instance, I recently discovered that the International Pole Convention would be in Atlanta this year. Pole dancing has become something that has consumed me. While the topic and how it's changed me and my outlook on sports/myself/life is something for a different post, it is something that I forsee a great deal of in my future.

A full weekend pass (Thursday night through Sunday) is $175. There are also pay-only panels that are available, and there are two that I desperately want to attend because of the teacher, and the content. While I do not know the cost of the panels themselves, I estimate that they can't be more than $50 each, so that's another $100 I need to save up.

This gets bumped up in my budget (because I really want to get into those panels!), replacing other items such as purchasing a pole, purchasing a new couch and papasan chair, purchasing a 3DS and PS4, and more. Having a "Gimme" list helps me prioritize how I want to spend that extra money, without feeling overwhelmed at trying to budget it in. And still allowing me enough freedom to move things around and decide what cool neat thing I want next.

2017 Game-Along Choices, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 23:45:00 +0000

The Community Game-Along Initiative

Image by Chic Pixel

Last year, I stumbled upon the Community Game-Along via #DatingSiMonth, and thought it was something really cool to try out. It's back again, for the fourth year, hosted by Chic Pixel once again. But this year has some different categories to choose from for gaming.

Like last year, I want to try to plan out what to play, and look for suggestions from others if I'm feeling stumped on what to play, or if I'm not digging what I choose to play. The platforms I have available to me, currently, include:

X-Box 360 (not my favorite system)
Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DS (original—able to play GBA games)
PC (by far my favorite platform)
PS Vita (my second favorite plaform)

I much prefer playing on the PC or Vita, so choices for those are valued above others. I do aim to purchase a 3DS at some point this year, but that depends on how I budget finances and what "gimme gimme" things I prioritize (there's a very long list, including updated furniture, tattoos, and Polecon, but that's another topic for another day). So, let's plan what to play for the first three themes.

January: #DatingSiMonth

Image from Aksys Games

January has come and gone, and I got in some dating sims just in time. As mentioned prior, I played some Sweet Fuse: At Your Side, Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya, and Seduce Me 2: The Demon War. Dating Sims are something I always try to play, so I'll be continuing all of them throughout the year, regardless. Especially since I am really digging Sweet Fuse. I'm glad I finally picked it up!

February: #FashionGameFeb

Image from official Sims website

This topic was suggested by Vanishing Age to Apricot Sushi. Last year's February game topic was fishing simulators. Back then, I used leveling up my fishing in FFXIV as a way to participate in the theme. This year, I'm going to do somewhat the same with World of Warcraft and WildStar. They both have different types of costuming systems, and collecting these items and playing dress-up is lots of fun.

However, I've never actually played a fashion game, and I'm intrigued, as Style Savvy is a pretty popular game series. Unfortunately, without a 3DS, I'm going to have to trawl around various Gamestop stores to see if I can find the original DS version. Worse comes to worst, I can always resort to buying one used off of Amazon, as well (which, to be honest, is probably just what I should do and forego Gamestop).

Sims 4 is also currently on sale for 50% off. I'm quite honestly tempted to purchase it because playing dress-up in the Sims is my favorite thing to do, outside of playing Legacy challenges. I've held off on Sims 4 because they didn't have toddlers in the base game, but with the recent addition of toddlers, I'd added it to my budget as a "gimme gimme" (more on my "gimme" list at another point). So maybe I'll re-prioritize my "gimme" list and pick up the Digital Deluxe version!

March: #MonMonth

Image from PlayStation store

Last year, I had no stinking clue what Monster Hunter-likes were, and Apricot Sushi was kind enough to expound on the types of games that were included in this category. Based on that information, I really don't know that I'll like the theme (I kind of stayed away from it as it seemed daunting last year), but I'm going to try really hard to get at least a few hours in of a game. After a lot of research, I think I'll be picking up Ragnarok Odyssey to give it a try. It's cutesy enough that it might catch my interest. Overall, though, it will come down to cost-vs-time, what else is on my "gimme" list, and what I feel I can really get away with and enjoy.

#DatingSiMonth and Streaming

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 21:22:00 +0000

#DatingSiMonth

Image from Chic Pixel

Just like last year, January was #DatingSiMonth. This is a part of the Community Game-Along that Chic-Pixel has put on for the past four years! I sort of participated throughout the year last year, but got sidetracked by real life. This year, I'm hoping to be able to participate more. And starting up in January with Dating Sims always gets me in the mood to continue. Because, really, how can you go wrong with Dating Sims, right?

I ended up playing a combination of Sweet Fuse, Seduce Me 2, and Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya throughout the month. I totaled only six hours of Dating Sims, but compared to the amount of time I've spent gaming and how my time has been alloted, I don't think that's too shabby.

Seduce Me Stream

As a part of #DatingSiMonth, I decided to put together a stream on a whim, especially since I wanted to see if streaming was something I'd be interested in doing if I got enough Patreon support to reach my goal. I had a lot of fun doing it, but it's definitely something that's draining, and not something I could do consistently without some sort of motivation.

I played two hours worth of Matthew's route in Seduce Me 2: The Demon War. I plan to continue streaming this route, at least in February. I had initially decided February was going to be the first time I'd stream, but then put one together in January just because.

Initially I chose February for a plethora of reasons: Valentine's Day means it's fun to play Dating Sims (not that I ever need an excuse!), and mainly I needed a distraction around the 13th of February for some personal reasons. I figured if I was joking with friends and having fun being raunchy about pixelated men, it'd be a fantastic distraction!

So, if you're interested in watching me play more of Matthew's route, join me on my Twitch channel in February! No guarantees about future streams unless Patreon works out, but keep an eye on my twitter for last minute streams when I feel like it.

#IntPiPoMo 2016 Postmortem

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 04:58:00 +0000

I want to thank Shintar for the reminder. Real life has caught up with me hardcore.

@ggchestnut I know it's Jan and you have more important stuff going on, but do you think there's a chance of an IntPiPoMo postmortem still?
— Shintar (@ShintarCommando) January 7, 2017

The List

I want to send a super big thank you to everyone who participated this year regardless of how many shots you shared! It was a smaller turnout compared to last year, but it still produced some great screenshots and artwork! Here is the list of all the blogs who participated in the event this year.

Some Stats

Like last year, I want to cover some statistics on the images folks shared. Again, like last year, I really should have taken better notes on the game(s) and theme(s) people used, but hopefully I'll keep it in mind for 2017! That said, I did notice that there was a large number of blogs from the SWTOR community, which I thought was awesome because I found some new SWTOR blogs to check out!

I do want to go over a few general statistics for this year, though.

Fourteen (14) total blogs participated in this challenge.
Ten (10) blogs posted at least 5 images.
Eight (8) blogs posted at least 25 images.
Seven (7) blogs posted at least 50 images.
Five (5) blogs went above and beyond the 50 images.
The highest number of posted images was 86, followed by 74.

The Winners

If you don't remember, I offered up prizes again this year when I posted about the contest. Here's a review of them, as well as the winners!

Grand Prize - Of all particpants who complete 50 photos, I will be using a RNG (random.org) to draw a winner for a Steam game worth up to $15! This is also exchangeable for an MMO subscription.

And the winner is... Going Commando!

Three Other Prizes - Of all participants who complete 25+ photos (up to and including those who make it to 50 pictures), I will be using a RNG (random.org) to draw three winners for a Steam game worth up to $10! And the winners are...

Mainly Monsters
Memoirs of a Lady
GamingSF

Thank you again to all whom participated! I'm sorry it took so long to get the results posted, but I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of turn out we get next year! I definitely still plan on doing this, as well as offering prizes! I think the amounts this year worked out great for me, and still provided reasonable prizes!

October Goals Review

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Sun, 20 Nov 2016 20:46:00 +0000

This post is a part of #IntPiPoMo 2016. You can find more information and sign up to participate here.

I cut down on my gaming goals list fairly extensively for October.

Feyd, Ender, and Try helped me get attuned for Kara, too!

WildStar

Purchase Service Tokens
Re-rune DPS set
Buy new unlocked tank gear
Re-rune tank set
~~Keep pimping Lifestyles of Nexus V for folks to sign up!~~
~~Make plans for guild/alliance Shade's Eve Shindig~~ (Never did.)
Put up the last Yardcore I recorded ages ago

WoW

~~Complete the Stormheim storylines~~
Unlock Suramar world quests
Get Archaeology to 100
~~Get Fishing to 300~~
~~Get Cooking to 600~~
Get First Aid to 400
Get Blacksmithing to 775
~~Get Mining to 750~~

Other

Finish Asagiri's route in Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya
Finish one of the routes in Sweet Fuse

Thoughts

Life has been hectic in ways that I didn't even plan for it to be, both emotionally and with work. I still got a decent amount of things finished, all things considered, though.

WildStar stuff that isn't related to the community-at-large, or Wildcast (which I suppose is the community-at-large) have taken a bit of a wayside to everything else. Not that it's a bad thing, but I do feel kind of bad about it. I've been doing a lot of stuff related to WildStar, just most of it outside of the game, which is a weird contrast.

I finally finished out Stormheim, which I think is my least favorite out of all the zones in the Broken Isles. Which stinks, even as a Warrior. I think that might be why it was my least favorite. That you've done all this Warrior stuff, and it doesn't seem to mesh with Stormheim well. I've been trying to work my way through more of Suramar, and have slowly gotten through it (I think I hate it more than Stormheim), so I've unlocked more quests, but I really need to just finish the stupid zone.

I got farther in professions than I thought I would. I'm stuck at 765 Blacksmithing, and all of my patterns are grey. So that stinks. Archaeology feels more grindy than I remember, granted, I never got it very high on Chestnut, so that's something to aim towards on Naught. Fishing is something I've been doing to kill time, plus I really want the Legendary fishing pole! First aid is getting there, slowly. I'm hoping as I get a higher level skill that my bandages will heal for more. I've hit a rut in mining, as well. Both of my Leystone and Felstone nodes are stuck at 1 star, despite lots of farming for the quest items. I really love professions, but WoW has really screwed the pooch with them, this expansion.

As for my otomes, I haven't really gotten much done in either of them with work. I usually play them on my lunch breaks, but October didn't leave me with many of those that weren't thirty minute "hurry up and eat" breaks.

#IntPiPoMo 2016 Hath Arrived!

noreply@blogger.com (Chestnut) — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 19:48:00 +0000

IntPiPoMo?

IntPiPoMo, or International Picture Posting Month is the image equivalent of National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo). NaNoWriMo focuses on writing 50,000 words over the course of the month of November. So, if a picture is a thousand words, that means that IntPiPoMo requires fifty pictures

These can be anything from screenshots from any game, to photographs you take in real life and want to share on your blog. Seriously, they can be anything—character selfies, shots of combat, sharing your game UI, showing off all those pretty new scenery shots in the Remastered Skyrim... you get the idea.

IntPiPoMo was started back in 2011 by Angelya of Revive & Rejuventate. In 2013, Jojo of Admiring Azeroth picked up the initiative. Last year Jojo passed it along to me, as she was out of the country and unable to run it. I changed it up a bit last year, offering some prizes for those that completed, and I plan to do so again this year. I'm hoping to continue to do the initiative justice, and I'm excited to see what kinds of screenshots and pictures folks are going to share!

How to Participate

Inigo here will explain... no, he will sum up.

Fill out this form to let me know you are participating! You can join at any time throughout the month of November!
Take a banner (below) and use it on your site! Link back to this post so folks know where to go and what to do.
Aim to post fifty (50) images of your own creation/taking throughout the month of November.

There is no strict posting schedule or theme to adhere to, but feel free to bounce ideas off of fellow participants!
Feel free to post these images as a once-a-week batch, or throughout the week in small doses.

Use the #IntPiPoMo hastag when you share your blog posts via social media.

Here's the banner!

What Do You Get?

Well, duh, the satisfaction that you completed the challenge! However, I am offering a few prizes again this year.

Grand Prize - Of all participants who complete 50 images, I will be using a RNG (random.org) to draw a winner for a game up to $15 on Steam (game time for an MMO can be worked out if preferred)!
Three Other Prizes - Of all participants who complete 25+ images (up to and including those who make it to 50), I will be using a RNG (random.org) to draw three winners for a game up to $10 on Steam!

-------------------------------------

The List

Updated Nov 20,2016 - 1553 EST

-------------------------------------

FAQ

Updated Oct 26, 2016 - 1436 EST

I got some great questions last year, and I'd like to continue the answers. Don't hesitate to reach out if your question isn't answered here!

Q: Can I sign up during the event itself? I don't know if I can/want to participate.
A: Of course! You could sign up the final day, though I don't suggest it.

Q: I don't want to put these on my main blog. Can I use my Tumblr?
A: Yep! Tumblr is a form of blogging called micro-blogging. Some people also have micro-blogs on other platforms, too. All these micro-blogs are welcome as a part of the event!

Q: You mentioned photography being allowed, but what if I wanted to share some artwork throughout the month. Can I use it as a part of my submissions?
A: Yes! Whether it's digital artwork, sculpting, knitting, etc., any form of creativity can tell just as much of a story as words can. Who am I to tell you that you can't use these as well?

Q: I really don't want to fill up my blog with photos. Can I participate and utilize photos as a part of my regular posts to count?
A: Indeed! Images don't always convey everything you want to write, and sometimes you don't want to make images the focus of a post. You are more than welcome to count images that you include as a part of a written post, so long as they are your own screenshots/photos.

Q: Can I create an animated GIF of images to get my point across?
A: So long as the images/screenshots are your own, feel free to create a GIF! However, at this point, it will only be counted as one image towards the total.

Q: Do I have to take all new shots? Or can I utilize shots I've already taken?
A: There is no need to take new shots, but I ask that you utilize shots that have not yet been posted in any other blog post, please!