Is there an outpost nearby?

BLM:75 WHM:65 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

I have begun cooking again and am leveling it up slowly. I went back to making Orange Juice since I had a bundle of crystals from Manaburn against the Flan. Man, they do drop a LOT of crystals and since I had my Republic Aketon on me I decided to pull it out and soon after one person left. Why are some people so averse to people's gear? What does it matter what gear I have on as long as I stay the full time and use up my mp to zero? Sure it's gimp but it's a whole lot better than not having anyone. Oh well.

I guess I should not be the one harping on about being too perfectionist.

Tonight is Dynamis. I missed Dynamis Friday because I was sent home that afternoon and told not to come back till after my holiday was over. Suddenly I got a call from the bar and it was Johnny! He said they had taken from his friends and he was in dire need of assistance. I rushed over and found him there among strange friends so I immediately asked the bartender to pass Johnny over to me and then he was alright.

I want to start law school. I am probably like a million people tho with deluded thoughts of how I am gonna be on easy street once I graduate. I researched going to law school for a long time some years ago and I found the job itself very boring. Even doing research for my Case Studies when I went for my MBA were VERY boring. I do have a new love for writing though and since I can now type well I imagine myself getting back up to speed intellectually like I used to be. The job I do now is so ridiculously easy that I sometimes wonder how they can make doin something so simple, SO complicated.

Credit cards used to make a simple percentage off of revolving balances which amounted to usually 18%. This and an annual fee basically gave everyone the same "deal" when it came to the price. I have worked for credit cards for now 16 years so I was there. This later was changed to allow people who paid "late" to be charged more money. Late fees were non-negotiable back then. Everything was systemized and if your check got there late, it got there late. But as usually happens when you feed the pigeons, the hawks take notice. If you are gonna hand out money to beggars, I might as well send my children all out there to get their "chores" done. Heh heh.

I don't wish to get too much into what advantages the credit cards have taken but rest assured the happenings in the organization reflect the status of our society to a great degree. Since I have no children and no business, most of what I do all of the time is philosophize about people. I realized long ago that there aren't "evil" people but just some that are more selfish and some that have less restraint.

As it happens I have a whole lot of restraint(read fear) and not a lot of selfishness so I hope that makes me "non-evil" but I am afraid that all it makes me is weird.

Weird like a tarutaru in Windurst skilling up his enhancement skill as a WHM/THF who uses Flee now and again to save time and wears his Republic Aketon proudly as if to say "I should be moving faster but I'm not cuz I'm not from here".

Let's have some Hohito pie!

BLM:75 WHM:65 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

Checked out the AH today and found some of my stuff had sold. I will continue to play I suppose but I need to become more organized with how I play FFXI now. I want to achieve some things this year that put my job as a second priority but that means becoming far more self-motivated. I also need to drink less and cut out the cigarettes cuz they just kill me.

I have just about had with being nice to people that are mean to me. There was a spot in the movie Lost in Space where the Father finds out that the scientist had sabotaged the ship and doomed the family in his attempt. Well after they avert the disaster the father comes to KO the scientist in front of his family but the words from this "typically verbose" villain as he struggled for his life was, "You can't can you, you can't kill the man without becoming the monster". The father couldn't kill the villain despite the near-death experience the entire family had just had.

In parties I often find the same thing going on. I find one person trying to do his own thing at the parties' expense. Obviously it would be easy to just boot him but I can't do that to someone without becoming just as errant in my behavior.

Today I found an RMT type that was selling really expensive SKY gear. He was just sending a shout about his gear for sale and then one person told him to get offline and then another and soon many people were all shouting at the person to get out.

It sounds vaguely familiar to my situation but I haven't broken any rules. The reason most people dislike me at work, I believe, is because I am so over-qualified and so part-time making mucho dinero. They are jealous. But that ain't against the rules. Still I have asked them to take me off the shift and off the team in an effort to start over with new people as a regular co-worker. I hope that lady heard me and empathized otherwise I am sure she is angling for my termination and soon. Apparently someone is in dire fear for their lives there and NEEDS my head on a platter to quiet their fears. >.>

That sounds vaguely familiar too.

The Next Generation.

BLM:75 WHM:65 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

You are probably wondering why is Hohito writing all the time? Well I was given time off from work to reflect on my life and decide if I want to continue working. Sort of weird to be given time off for that but there is no question that I am on my last legs at work.

I just finished the Star Trek LEGACY game for the 360 and found it fascinating. The controls weren't too hard to learn and there were plenty of cutscenes to keep the "old" space fight scenes from becoming too tawdry.

If you have played one space fighting game you have probably played them all. You just have to find your shields and find your armor and oh yeah where are is my torpedo count and how do I fire phasers. It's pretty simple really.

The storyline if about the origin of the Borg and it begins with a Commander T'uerille from Vulcan who in her search for logic finds the Borg and basically decides to Saddam the whole of the Universe. Because of the long years of Vulcans, she begins in Capt. Archers era and appears again in Capt. Kirk's era, and then later in Capt. Picard's era. It really was quite entertaining. Still, it will be a while before I play it again I guess.

I have to get serious with what I want to do productive-wise. I want to buckle down and get serious about work but it's so hard to want to improve when your actions are sabotaged by your superiors. Even while talking with the HR person I got the feeling less that she wanted to help me and more that she wanted me OUT of there. I wonder what it is about me that makes people dislike me SO much?

It's funny though because now to see the reality of my situation, it's not what my opinion of it was at all. I thought that I could become a manager at any time and that when I did I would not be able to go to school so I had to make sure I was done with school before I took the steps to mgt. But I don't feel that I will ever become a manager now. Not with this past incident in my record. In truth, I haven't been able to become a manager for some time.

How now foreign cow?

BLM:75 WHM:65 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

Harsh events recently in the real world have led me to question my continued presence in Vana'diel. A coworker decided to harass me to no end and when I stood up to her, she turned my in to HR for making a scene out of it.

You ever wonder how you get out of that mess? How can you ignore someone that pesters you? Pestering them is technically not professional so it's clearly against your values to pester them back but, since they have no qualms with it, the pestering continues.

That is perhaps how society becomes more decadent. Common people tend to bullshit more than the Nobles who have to watch what they say and tend to reputation and whatnot. But in an argument, that commoner is gonna have that noble for lunch while he is standing there and the noble will just have to walk away and take it or come down to the commoner's level and throw out the OLD NAVY trash talk like a foreign uncle. Imagine getting into a fight with a commoner. Technically fighting is assault and people should be thrown in jail for it but often the fight is just overlooked by the law. Someone without a job could give two hoots about getting thrown in jail with a nice shower and food, while the noble might actually miss important events at his job that might severely change his future. I for one am unwilling to come down and act unprofessionally at work but since my job is now in danger I might have to rethink that. People might call that growin some cojones but I find nothing gallant in fighting... even verbally.

It's sad but if people find out that you won't fight then that's all the more reason to throw sand in your face. I mean, WHO could possibly think that fighting is admirable? When?

Hence the reason we destroy ourselves. In the end, it's the shame from the endless fighting that finally brings to close the conflict, and introduces innocence as a virtue again.

A Toast to the Merchants.

It's a long journey to SEA

BLM:75 WHM:65 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

Well I finally got my level back. I spent 2 days trying to help some people get through PM 8-2 and it totally cost me at least 10k in exp. I had to show up last night in Dynamis-Xarcabard gimp, at 74, and got resisted all over the place. I almost skipped it in the hope of maybe getting my Rajas ring for my THF, but we got there and one guy was dead and then I died once and I immediately warped and hustled over to my Dynamis group like a failed virgin. lol

I was so happy with Dynamis Friday. I can't believe it but soon after getting my access to Sea I was able to get my Dynamis-Beaucedine win and now I have full access to all the Dynamises(I think). More than that, all of the THFs already had their Assassin's Culottes so the drop was free lot and didn't cost anyone any points that night. So guess who lots it and wins? HA!

I have begun cooking too. I was told by a friend that cooking Orange Juice is the best way to get to level 10 but me and my hard-headedness decided to skip that, since there were no more Water Crystals in AH in Windy, and I decided to make Hard Boiled Eggs.

Well I buy a whole BUNCH of supplies to get my crafting up to speed and up to Level 10 and what do I find out... skill caps at 4. I wasted a bunch of Fire Crystals figuring that out. What I can't believe now that I know is how easy it was to take some OJ with you to pts. I would have been carting around OJ like it was nothing if I had learned sooner. It's so easy to make too.

What I can't wait to learn to make is Melon juice cuz then I will have BLM/SMN with refresh from SMN sub + refresh from Cloak + and refresh from MJ = No resting. Hah.
Manaburn was a weird thing today. People in Manaburn are of two minds. People that want to earn exp, and people that want to brag. Some people think this adds "color" to the exp but what it does is make other people feel like doggydoo. If I started talking about how they aren't Burning and aren't positioning at range and aren't using their Dark Staves during Aspir, they would have this " " much to say back to me about gimp gear. Gear is the least of what makes you a great BLM, timing is much more useful.

I have to admit tho that BLM/RDM makes for a much more attack-oriented BLM. Gravity would make soloing as BLM much easier. Of course I only say that cuz my Enfeebling is so gimp. If it was at max I could probably Sleep much better and not have to worry at all about Gravity.

I have started my quest to get my Anrin Obi. This piece of waist gear doubles weather effects. It gives your Aspir and Drain double power and will make your Sleeps last a whole lot longer. I need it for Dynamis. To start the quest you have to have sea access, then speak to Yurim in the Tavnasian Safehold. He will ask you for a Silver Obi and a Black Chip.

The Black Chip is sold by Blavvikx in Port Bastok. It went for 21k. The Obi costed about 10k only cuz one guy currently has a monopoly on the item. He is probably an RMT type. After you trade these, Yurim tells you to bring him a whole bunch of organs. He doesn't tell you how many but after looking it up in Allahkazam, the info says you need 7 Aern Organs 3 Xzomit Organs and 3 Luminian Tissues. I already have one Aern Organ that I got after helping those guys in sea get past 8-1. They really weren't very leet and you'd think they would be after getting this far in COP. I always doubt people that suck. It's not easy to be high level and suck. So they must LIKE to suck. That gives me pause. Pause about the whole world even. Do nice people secretly want to hate?

The RMT types have had their asses handed to them so often that it's likely you will find them trying to corner the market in every single "special" quality good like Paktong Ingots or Silver Obis or CCB Polymers. That's why the price of everything is going down really, because RMT can no longer afford to be all PUBLIC about their identities. This is good. But it means they open new accounts and do the hard work that most of us are unwilling to do.

Sounds bad to have RMT living among us but actually we are all RMT to some degree. Without a chance of loss, you haven't left your bed. If you have left your bed, that's cuz there isn't some SWEET fine thing laying there next to you and maybe you SHOULD leave your bed and get out there and GET what you need in this life. IF I HV TOLD YOU ONCE, I HV TOLD YOU A THOUSAND TIMES, GET THE HELL OUT OF BED!

"scratch"

Airship Battle = O

BLM:74 WHM:65 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

You guys probably don't know want to know how many times I tried to beat the Airship Battle or how long it took to get people together to kill the 3 NM monsters between that and the Tenzen fight or even how many times we tried to beat Tenzen on the Airship for PM 7-4.

You probably don't wanna hear that I started all of this 2 days ago, got no sleep til last night, and now have access to the Garden of Ru'Hmet after finishing mission PM 8-2 A Fate Decided.

So, there's the picture. :D

Skills skills skillz orz

BLM:75 WHM:65 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

I have been reading a lot on the various logs on Allah about THF/RNG and switching gear and such. It has been such a long time since I leveled THF that I don't know if I would enjoy playing it again. He has lot of good gear though, unlike my BLM. I would like to go do an Uggalepih Pendant run soon but first I need an odorous knife synthed. I have all the materials almost, I just need to buy a Darksteel Ingot and then find someone with the synthing ability.

I really want to level BRD now though. Leveling WHM is so boring and hard. My Healing skill won't skill up often and I sometimes wonder about why my Divine skill hasn't reached max yet even though I throw out Flashes like nobody's business.

In this pic, I was starting out as a SMN. The more I want to start another job though, the more I want to level my SMN and RNG. Both those jobs are fun to play cuz they are so complex in their own way. My RNG is Kick-Butt. My SMN is more interesting to play than WHM. But I don't want to level my low-level jobs till my mid-level jobs are at 75. More importantly, if I can get my WAR to 65 then he can lot stuff too making my chances of getting AF2 more likely. But my WAR is a bastard. He uses a GSD and he uses a /THF sub. I sort of want to level GAX and SCY and PLM just so that he keeps those skills up for use on specific mobs, esp if they are weak to piercing, etc. But skill up is like leveling a job unto itself. I have to skill up CLB and STF still too for my BLM and WHM even. Ugh.

The good news is that Dynamis-Beaucedine and Dynamis-Xarcabard are just around the corner and getting my wins will be proof positive that going out with this group for the last couple of months(without pay) was worthwhile.

I have thought often recently of pulling out Jajuju and leveling her up to a decent level so I can Burning Blade > Seraph Strike > Holy the crap out of mobs with my WHM/SMN, but I'm too lazy. She reminds me a lot of Uchipu and sometimes, when she's not lookin, I smack her butt. :)

Hohito lots! OMFG!

BLM:75 WHM:65 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

I had real problems with Dynamis last night, not the least of which was a lack of sleep. I should just do nothing all day before Dynamis. Being tired and new is a sure way to screw up in front of a lot of people. I wonder if my subconcious is just acting up again. I realize that my personality and its schisms are separate sometimes from my rational self. Maybe I'm a SCHIZO!

I posted this yesterday in Allah to defend the use of /RNG for THFs, I might as well print it here(Today, No FFXI):

I used Ranger as a sub post 70 mainly because I tested it out and found that my Accuracy with my Dagger was vastly improved with /RNG sub. But I lost a lot in the process.

The main benefit I got from /RNG was an ability to Scavenge. Hell you're a THF and you use MUG and STEAL like nobody's business anyway so you will be left breathless at how screwed you were without having hit "SCAVENGE" all those times before you knew about /RNG sub.

Seriously though, with /RNG sub and an outdoor area, you have the ability to gain TP, use ws on the tank at the beginning of the fight, {you are using WS at the beginning of the fight right THFs?} Then as you turn and use Sneak Atk from the rear and wait for the next mob, you go into map and find your next mob. In time, you get rather good at this. Then you have to wonder if your Sharpshot is up and Barrage. So many options, so much to think about, and so little time since you now have to disengage early, go out to the monster you spotted and, without delay and at range, pluck that mob with a Fire Arrow hit. Nothing says hey I know what I'm doin like a puller's mob that arrives on time and on fire! Heh. I use arrows, despite the lower skill, because they do more damage. I still, and you should too, have Marksmanship skilled so that you can Sleep Bolt a mob that arrives too early. This screws up your TP tho, but hey, that's better than not doin anything. Sleep Bolts usually work good unless the monster has resistance. It really is a lot of work to be /RNG but there is a LOT more damage to be had. OH and of course use regular dagger WS like Shark Bite and Dancing Edge, not Arrow WS. It looks nice in caves against bats but Sidewinder is crap against IT with C skill.

With /WAR I ws able to use Berserk and Warcry. I got a STR bonus. I was able to Provoke and let me tell you, there are many times, esp if you have +Enmity gear like a good thief would, that you will want to pull off a mob from a mage and if you have been using /WAR for pulls til 70 like me, your Evasion is maxed. I can't see any other sub that could possibly use Perfect Dodge as effectively and so for that reason alone, I think /WAR is great... /RNG is better but takes more to master.

I haven't leveld /NIN so I can only say that job-wise I expect to get a boost to evasion, and to be able to cop an extra hit that looks about as effective as a stickman drawn with the wrong hand, I expect to learn a whole lot about the elemental wheel which in all honesty I know nothing about; and I expect to spend on tools for shadows and save up a million in gil for Utsusemi:Ni just so that I can have the safest /sub and give our WHM a breather from his already tough job. I believe this is NOT the best sub for THF but it certainly is a viable one. I believe it IS necessary to have /NIN sub in situations like Dynamis and HNM fights where Evasion and Shadows help you survive on your way back to camp.

Finally, I haven't leveled NIN, so I can't say from experience that it is worse but, think philosophically what the subs are doin for you; RNG is making your THF have more DEX, WAR is making your THF have more STR, and NIN is making your THF have more EVA and magic. If your THF is tanking you would prob want him to have more DEF, and if he was pulling then NIN is probably what fills that role best, but as one of the melee trying to build TP for sc, I would have to say /RNG is the best sub although, like having a BLM/SMN in a party, it limits the parties' options and, ultimately, is more risky for the group.

Couple of thoughts b4 I go

BLM:75 WHM:65 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

I miss how quickly levels used to expire. Now it seems to be taking forever to get my WHM up to level 70. No matter though. I don't have the money to get him all of the Blessed gear that he is needing and I don't even have the money to start a craft like I would like. I have been thinking of doin some fishing but it's too boring.

I wish I could read or something while playing but you can't. I despise the TV. Many sitcoms are really just too filled with commercials for my taste. Still I guess the main reason I don't watch TV while playing is that it doesn't come through my XBox.

I have finally achieved a milestone in COP by finishing The Three Paths chapter, but I am wary of the airship battle I hear so many horror stories about. I was there for the Snoll Tzar story and if this one is even harder than that, then I can expect to have a long wait till I get access to Sea.

It seems like Sea is just around the corner to people looking back at me that already have Sea access, but in truth, getting a battle done with as many deaths that are needed takes weeks of effort. That being said, I can expect to have Sea access maybe in March if I'm lucky.

I honestly wonder what I am still doing playing this game. My plan was to eventually bring someone into this world and teach them all about it and now I am just "sour milk" feelings about the whole cooperative thing. Optimistically you get to do stuff together and build social skills, yet pessamistically, what's an OLD MAN doin playin a video game?

"You wanna do what with me tonight? PLay a video game?!! Are you insane? "

I guess I will hold out though til I get my Assassin's gear from Dynamis. I owe it to myself to just cut back on the fun if only to make it to those events. They ARE indeed a lot of fun and I have become much better as a healer and nuker for the group.

I have noticed that the leader adds one THF to every BLM party so as to run him back to the sleepers. Well this past week, I added a specific macro to Cure III the 2 THFs by name, much like my two assist macros. It worked really well. They don't like me to use Auto-Target but I click it on and off while they aren't looking. .. heh heh joke.

We cleared the entire Dynamis of monsters and still had 30 minutes left. We were just blowing through them. It must have been the right day of the week for ice spells. ^-^ jk again.

In like 3 months I can expect to have enough points to lot on the gear I want. Yay. I betcha I find myself a girl in like a week and give up the whole video game thing right before I get my AF and my Sea access and COP ring.

Yep. That would be typical.

Nighttime again

BLM:75 WHM:65 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

In Mhaura, at night, you can almost hear crickets chirping as the waves of the dock fill your ears. Here is where you find an NPC that tells you how slack you are at fishing. I am very slack. It's funny, after the ls dissolved I just wanted to fish till I got a million and then retire with some craft of some sort after I threw money at it but once again I find myself on some quest to finish some useless missions that probably won't add up to much anyway.

The missions of course are the COP missions. If they are anything like getting access to SKY then I can expect to go out there and farm really rare stuff like I do in SKY... no not really. So why get the stupid missions done? Well this time, I don't want the stupid access, I want that bling ring. Once I have it I will be set for stuff that I want for my THF. Except for that stupid Thunder Ring but hey at least I don't have to get two.

I used to think that I would need some major THF to do pulls in Dynamis but all you really need is an ass. Yep, just take your ass out there and get ready to get it handed back to you. Pretty much. Not a lot of skill there.

So, in retrospect, since I wanted to be the king of Dynamis and now I realize the THFs are like the jesters, I am gonna work more on my BLM. BLM/RDM usually steal the show though. Because of Fast Cast they usually pummel out the spells far more quickly than I can. But the really aggressive ones usually get their heads bitten off, heh heh. Well that's ONE way to get attention.

I was thinking of taking /SMN to these events but that would be just stupid. In your BLM parties, usually there are two each with their own BRD, there has to be at least a couple of /WHM cuz DS(Divine Seal) + Curaga II saves the day when AOE starts flashing all over the place. This is especially why it is necessary to have at least one /WHM in the group cuz without Barfira, your mages are toast.

One /SMN with Aerial Armor(Blinkga) to offer wouldn't be such a bad choice though esp a taru using it since he has extra mp but I dunno. I used to want to improve the world with my ideas and now I just keep my mouth shut and murmer to myself what idiots they all are. Of course this doesn't help my disposition towards women since you can't be sexy and disillusioned at the same time. As a result, I try to maintain the calm.

{Edit}

I have been thinking, as I evolve my plan for Dynamis and focus my BLM/WHM skills that I had better get some additional macros so that I can target the healers of the other parties when their group gets slept.

More importantly, I still have trouble with lag in Besieged and in Dynamis. I mean what's the purpose of having a game that only runs so-so at the peak of its draw. I guess I have to upgrade my computer again. One problem, that's not possible. The new computers don't have faster processors they have backup processors which of course means nothing when your game doesn't make use of em.

I need to find what settings I have to turn down so that I can see most of the action going on. Even if it is on a limited basis. I tested this on Besieged but I figure that servers are so taxed already during Besieged that I probably need to make the settings active before I go in.

WHM, welcome 2 da jungle

BLM:75 WHM:64 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

Well this is me in Yhoater Jungle with my WHM and no ls. I practiced soloing stuff with my WHM and suddenly got the urge to skill up my club since I am going to be leveling WHM mainly now. I even said hi to Rewusrup and Phantoma as they passed through here. WHM is really the best job to solo stuff with. You get to Haste yourself and put up Stoneskin and with /SMN sub, you even got some decent MP refresh going on. Usually I will even put up Carby's Shining Ruby right before the fight to give myself that added plus in DEF. It is kind of boring though and it takes a long time with a club to level up, nevermind how long it takes with a staff. At least the mobs are Easy Prey and I get some exp out of it.

Later on though I got a group to skill up club from 120 or so and now it is at 176 and I have True Strike to use. I can't wait to get Hexa Strike but HTH am I gonna take skill up to 220 against Steelshells? It was then though that I got the idea to skill up club at the same time as I skill up Enfeebling Magic with BLM. This seems like a good idea and I worked out a plan of action which ws to cast Poison then Blind then Poison II then Bind then Sleep then Sleep II. Poison often gets resisted though at 200 so you have to check it and try to land it again if it is resisted. The bad part was that successfully landing Sleep really ups the mobs hate on you. I would often pull the mob away from the NIN tank we were using so I tried not to overdo it too much with the Sleep spells. Bind is another spell that seemed to just turn the mob in my direction. My skill definitely went up. The combo of club and spells didn't work though cuz the hits were just adding to my hate total and eventually I just forgave the club altogther.

Tonight is Dynamis and with two more wins scheduled this week, I should be able to go to the outlands the next time we go. I have to say I miss the group since I haven't been with them recently. One night they were supposed to do an outlands Dynamis and it was lotted by JP ls first so they switched to a city Dynamis and I could have gone, but that was the night that I did the Snoll Tzar fight and won. The Snoll group had already enlisted 4 members when the ls changed their minds so I had to ditch Dynamis even though they could have used me.

I can't wait to use the Blessed WHM gear that is coming up for me at 70 but I have to say that I have been looking over and over and I dunno HOW I am gonna get all that moolah for it. I can say that I won't be getting Noble's Tunic though. That armor is worth bunches now on the AH.

I just spent money on the Repulic Aketon and I have to say I look very snazzy in it. As I was walking around I realized how weird I looked and how characteristic that was of my rl. A Tarutaru in a Republic Aketon. Tarus are from Windy. Uchipu is from Windy. She looked normal in her Aketon. Why do I feel so fat in mine?