If it ain't one thing...

Yeah.

My car started making this wierd high-pitched whining noise in either the engine or the transmission, and the tachometer would jump a thousand RPM while shifting from 2nd to 3rd gears. Talked to my uncle, and he said it sounds like there's something wrong with the transmission. So now I get to take it to the shop(after just having $600 worth of brake and axle work done last month) and find out if it's something simple or major, and also how many hundreds of dollars it'll cost. Arrrgh!

And of course, this has to happen on the week I'm going to Charlotte to the Heroes Convention. I just hope I can get my car back by Friday...dear God, let it be something simple.

Crying in frustration...

Was what I did over the weekend. Big storm here Friday night, power browned out and blacked out a couple times. That in and of itself didn't affect me, since I was asleep. However.

Got home Saturday morning ready to play some FFXI, and I can't. The power fluctuations did a certain unquantifiable something to my cable modem hookup while leaving the cable tv alone. What joy.

So I call up the cable people, and they say the soonest they can get a tech to come look at it is Thursday. Bullshit. I go over to the actual office this morning(the one that their 1-800 number doesn't connect to) and they say they'll send someone Tuesday morning. I'm still not happy, but that's a vast improvement. Then, about 9:30, I get a call from them saying they have a technician in the area and he'll be stopping by, which he does. And after testing everything, he goes on a walkabout to see if anything on the outside of the building has been disturbed.

Here's the funny part.

They evidently had to install some kind of new connection when they upgraded to allow cable internet, and this new interface is located over near the apartment office. However, it's not located on the cable technician's wiring blueprints, so he didn't know it was there until he physically walked over and saw it. Oi...

On the plus side, everything's working now! So I'm off to go FFXI myself to death. Vana'diel forever!

Final Fantasy XI, but only Lvl X

Got my Black Mage up to Level 10 and with the spells Aero and Bio. Died several times due to the games humerous tendancy to have your check of an enemy say "This *creature name* has low defense and evasion." yet lead you into a fight with something that kicks your ass. Luckily, I built up enough XP in between each death so that I didn't drop a level, but sheesh!

Got all the way down to the south end of Ronfaure with the blue peas to give to the hungry monk, only to realize...I'm in West Ronfaure. And he's in EAST Ronfaure!

It was at this point I called it a day.

Final Fantasy, it consumes my life...`

Yeah, that's what XI is doing. It's just so much fun to be running around in real time with other real people and killing things.

Add to this, I was happier earlier this week than I've been in some time. Where I work, there's a certain manager that I've never liked. This manager was supposedly in line to become the next co-manager, but got passed over and they brought in someone from outside, who THIS MANAGER doesn't like and that person is now the manager's boss. Hee hee hee!

Finished the second XI quest and tomorrow will start on a "Save the Children" quest. And damn if things in Vana'diel aren't prohibitively expensive. A pair of Slacks for a L7 BLM are going for 8,000 gil. Slacks! Those damn things better be Gucci AND Armani for that price.

Run away! Run away...

That's what I did a few times today. Once yesterday, too.

Yesterday I saw another player running from an Orcish Grappler. I gave chase thinking that we could team up and kill it, but it killed her then me. Luckily, I was below L5 at the time, so I incurred no XP penalty for going back to my home point. However.

Today, I was at L5 & L6. Got smacked down by an Orcish Fodder(who I suppose was avenging his two fallen brothers I'd already killed) because he interrupted my casting Dia on him then got lucky w/two critical hits. However, before I could call a buddy and beg him to Raise me, another player did so, apparently just to be nice. Thanks. So I went back into San'doria until my Weak status wore off, then went outside and tangled with some more Wild Rabbits, some Tunnel and Carrion Worms, then spotted a Scarab Beetle. I attacked it, and it promptly kicked my ass. Two guys happened by, one of them agreed to Raise me and then they went off to(presumably) purchase the item, but then a third guy came and Raised me. Went back in the city, waited for the Weak to wear off, then went back out. Tangled with a Forest Funguar this time, and(wait for it)...IT kicked my ass. Had to get Raised by yet another stranger. Did the whole "city-wait-return" thing one more time, then got ambushed by an Orcish Grappler and just turned tale and ran back to the city. Made it just in time, and that's when I decided to call it a day.

That whole 'two day' streak didn't last long...

See, I went out and bought a legitimate copy of FFXI. Only $20, so why not, if it'll get me authorization codes. They only had the DVD-ROM version, but since I already had the game itself on my HD, that didn't matter. Got the codes, activated everything, then got PlayOnline working.

Only now FFXI wouldn't work. Shit!

At first I thought it was the video card. Minimum requirements are at least a Radeon 9000 and I only have an 8500. But it'll work with ANY GeForce w/at least 32 MBRAM, so my buddy Barnsey loans me his old GeForce 2 64MB. I rip out my Radeon and put in the GF. But it still keeps giving me the same error message. Agghhh!

So after messing around with it for a day or two, I have to wait until noon Eastern to talk to PlayOnline's online(heh, that's a good one) help, since they're on Pacific. So the guy tells me what the error message I give him means.(becuause, you know, it would just be too easy if the program itself could tell you what was upsetting it)

Turns out that FFXI is a very jealous program. Not only does it take up your full screen, but it wants your O/S's complete attention. If ANY other program tries to do anything other than just sit there and run, that "takes priority away" from FFXI and kicks it back out to Windows.

So I go into msconfig and shut down everything that's supposed to start in the Startup routine. Still doesn't help. I d/l Ad-Aware and delete everything naughty. Yay, FFXI works now!

Until this morning. I evidently missed one solitary startup thingy, so I finally did what I perhaps should have done from the beginning: created another user account that only has access to PlayOnline and FFXI. No other internet connectivity, no other programs running at startup. And it works! Yay!

I got past my first mission with the help of one of Barnsey's friends, and then I killed rabbits until I got to Level 3. So now, I am a L3 RM, name of Aeric.(because Alain was taken)

Two posts in two days, I must be ill...

Yeah, hopefully this returns us to the 'once-a-day' schedule.

Had to buy a 'legit' copy of FFXI, a tragedy somewhat blunted by it only costing $20. Currently updating...and updating...and updating. Lemme put it this way: there were 14095 in the first set of updates. Now on the second set, there's 5217 and they're taking way longer than the first set did.

So there'll be no FFXI for me today, as I'm about to go to bed. I guess it'll be Monday morning before I get to play it, since I'm going to my buddy DFA's this weekend and I have to wait until my work buddy Buck gets online so he can use a World Pass and get me onto the Leviathan server with him, Barnesy and Snookie.

I was suggesting that we call ourselves "The Four Horsemen of Vana'diel", but there's a problem. Barnesy is a Elvaan Monk, Snookie a Galka Thief, Buck a Hume Red Mage, and I'm gonna be a Hume Red Mage. Now, in fantasy settings, cavalry or a horseback charge can be a very intimidating sight. Imagine a group of heavily armored, heavily armed foes riding pell-mell at you. Intimidating, right? Okay, now imagine that scene again, but replace the horses...with chocobos. That kinda turns it into something from 8 Bit Theater

Watched the last prelim fight on The Ultimate Fighter Season 3, Matt vs. Mike N. Really, really bad. Sloppy fighting, bad cardio on both of them, and two fighters who didn't listen to hardly anything their coaches were telling them. At least Matt had an excuse, he's DEAF!

It was the dark of the moon on the first of June...

Yeah, that's not how 'Convoy' goes, but it's been stuck in my head.

Got a burned copy of Final Fantasy XI from a buddy of mine, and even though both he and a friend of his are using it, it won't work for me. Figures.

Just spent thirty minutes trying to remember my Blogger password. And I finally did. VICTORY IS MINE!