EQ2 has slowed down considerably and in order to solo I need to do the typical grind fest. It’s essentially forcing the player partner up if they want to complete any tasks (or quests, however you wish to call it) after about level 15. It’s a shame, too, because it was going so smoothly there for awhile.

You’re going merrily along at around level 15ish when you smack into the wall and all of your quests suddenly become levels 18 to 20. So you grind out the levels or you try to get yourself a group (or at least a partner).

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I found a digg post today that lead to some other interesting videos. They all show just how far (and absurd) photo retouching is, and how totally unrealistic pretty much every photo is that you see.

I’m especially fond of this photo of Glenn Feron on the site originally linked from digg. That gal is quite lovely on her own and the only thing wrong with that photo is the quality of the photographer, yet look at what they do to her in photoshop. The results look far from even being natural!

Not only do they inject her butt with silicon but they also break her foot. How can these models not be angry about this, or do they simply have no say in what happens with their photos?

In other pictures on that site you can see where certain deliberate tatoos were removed. They appear to be of a tribal nature and removing them – in my opinion – takes away the original intention and thus the beauty of the photos.

At any rate, those videos and pics are things that everyone should see. Especially young girls.

~Steph

I walked the 1.1 mile (1.1 mile = 1.7 or so kilometers) to campus today to turn in my new class schedule and, of course, they were closed. Yay! Heh heh. Oh well, at least I got in a nice walk today eh?

This is something that I really should have known. We even received an email detailing when they would open again, I simply got addle brained and failed to look at the schedule. The library was open though, so I stepped in and asked the nice (and dare I say, cute) gal behind the counter when the rest of campus would open. She guessed about Jan. 2^nd (while doing her best to not roll her eyes at me).

The good news is that according to what I’m able to find on the web I burned about 246 to 278 calories from this walk. Hey, I can’t complain. I’ll be doing this about every day next semester so long as the weather holds up.

Which makes me think… Hmm.. Okay. Read the rest of this post if you want to read a ramble about the approximate ammount of calories burned in total on certain days for my next semester.

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edit: I’ve hit a dry spell in the game already. Such an unfortunate turn of events. Hopefully I’ll find something more to do (that is not mindlessly camping critters) soon.

Awhile back I gave some thoughts on the EoF expansion but mentioned that I wouldn’t be buying it. That’s largely due to a bias against EverQuest 2; the game is a very boring experience and I do not recommend it to anyone.

Well, that may have changed with Echoes of Faydwer. Having decided to give their EoF expansion another chance I once again find myself fluttering around Kelethin. I’ve made a new character for this and I am much, much happier with her appearance. Not that I have anything against the pink haired fairy that I used last time, but seriously… how can you not have a goth fairy? Duh!

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I have decided to attend a full 15 credit hours for this coming semester rather than being a part time student again. Three of those credit hours will be attained from physical fitness programs.

Assuming that this schedule is OK’d by the folks at the college tomorrow (I see no reason for it not to be *crosses fingers*), then this is how my schedule will break down:

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Is the saga of the JCPenny’s leather trench coat over? Or will they surprise me with an order of over $130?

I called them today to confirm that the order was canceled, and the fellow on the phone said that yes, it does show that it was canceled. Now the question is: Do I trust them? All things considered I’m leaning toward definitely not trusting them.

Worse. Order. Ever. ARGH!

~Steph

It has been over a year since I last had anything to do with the original EQ. Even today I have no interest in that game. As I sit here typing this I find myself wishing that I had not logged into it tonight.

Not simply because I don’t like the game itself, but because I now sit here slightly depressed. It’s odd because I can’t quite put my finger on the reason, but it was a genuinely depressing experience. Perhaps I would have slept better had I not messed with it.

If you know me – and to be honest only the few of you who I know will read this – then you know that I can be very curious. I was sitting at the computer tonight trying to think of something entertaining when it occurred to me that I haven’t looked at the original EQ in over a year.

After asking myself several times if I even wanted to bother with it I finally allowed my curiosity to get the best of me.

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I’ve updated my PGP key. The link in the About page now points to the new key. Please use PGP when you can, thank you!

Awhile back I posted about my awful shopping experience with JCPenny’s. I called and canceled that order and I assumed that it was taken care of.

Well, think again – JCPenny’s hasn’t canceled my order yet. In fact, they just emailed me to inform me that the coat won’t ship … get this… until 1/15/07! and they are only JUST NOW informing me of this!

Oh for fucks sake, I have had enough!

edit: I just called them. It’s about 1:00 AM and someone actually answered. The person answering the phone said that he saw the original request to cancel in the system and that the order should have been canceled because its ship date is so late. The best that he could offer me was to put in another request and to suggest that I call back Friday to see if it had gone through. He also mentioned that there was another note of some sort but that “it makes no sense”.

Third time’s a charm. If I get the same BS come Friday, that’s it. I’ll be talking to the bank to not simply block the order, but to ask if there is any pressure that they (or Visa) can place on JCPenny’s. Hell, I may even type a nice explanation and send it to the’ol lawyer as “just in case” record. One way or the other, I am NOT paying for this.

Getting this BS at 1:00 AM is definitely not a good thing. My tired brain had something of a seizure.

Grades for Fall semester are in. I made a 4.0 GPA. Really wasn’t that hard considering my classes, but it’s good to know.