Uh. Just thought I should let you all know!

*is quite frankly amazed you haven't all defriended*

Um. HI! *shy wave* How is everyone?

My hunter has a large variety of pets. Okay, not a very large variety. My stable is almost full and it's mostly cats and wolves. XD My favourite to use when questing is my bear who I've had since about level 50. A while back I got my first spirit beast: Gondria. I've never bothered with rare beasts because I'm too lazy to camp their spawn points, but I do occasionally fly past them just to see if they're there. I was helping a mate out in Northrend when I got a whisper from another hunter asking if I had Gondria and if not, did I want to come tame her because she was there and this hunter already had her. I screamed into my fist and flew there as fast as I could and got my first ever spirit beast!

(These pictures aren't mine; I logged out of WoW already and since it took me 20 minutes to log in earlier, I don't want to have to do that again.)



I called her Heliotrope. SHE IS PRETTY. And is an awesome DPS pet for dungeons and raids. :D

But even though I loved my spirit cat, the one I wanted most was Arcturis. The spirit bear. I knew where he spawned, I occasionally flew past to see if he was there. More often than not I found only a hunter camping the spot. Etiquette will not allow me to try to tame a beast another hunter has been camping so I just wished them luck and went on. I figured I'd have to be super lucky to get him.

I logged on today and about a minute later, a hunter in the guild said 'oh man, I found the spirit bear but I'm too low level to tame him!' I screamed into my fist, again, and said OH GOD CAN I TAME HIM EEEEEE and flew at the speed of light to his spawn point. All the while I was scared another hunter would find him, or a non-hunter dickhead would find him and kill him just to be a dick. Thankfully neither of these things came to pass and I GOT ME ARCTURIS.



AAAH SPIRIT BEAR OH MY GOD YES. SHRIEK.

I need a good name. I called him Ceruleus but don't like it now; I need a better name. What would YOU call a large see-through bear?? Classy names only, please. :P

ETA: Have decided to go with Beorn. :D

Made it to Sydney!!!! It's ... warm. And kind of humid. XD Thankfully eireinn is a wonderful person who put the A/C on for me. I think we're going to have to find a place with A/C otherwise I will DIE. Or at least be very miserable a lot of the time.

The plane was late leaving but early arriving (IDK) and we sat on the runway for about half an hour before finally taxiing off. There was a cheer and applause as the plane lifted off the ground - I think everyone on the plane was, like me, half-expecting there to be another earthquake before we took off which would necessitate us evacuating the airport and missing our flight again. I couldn't relax until we'd taken off and were no longer on the extremely shaky Christchurch ground. Because it was EXTREMELY shaky. The roof-rattling aftershocks weren't as common as the small shivers the ground gave every now and then which made everyone stop for a moment before continuing with what they were doing. They were still disconcerting thought - a reminder of hey, earthquake, remember? as if we could forget.

kiwiana, bloodnfire, gretazreta, I hope you are all still okay back in Christchurch. I'm thinking of you. ♥♥

Today I am going to do boring things like buy underwear, a phone, and see if I can open a bank account. Fun times! Also I have woken up with a headache - unsurprising given the recent stresses. Have popped some painkillers and will see if I can take another wee nap to get rid of the pain before getting going for the day.

And finally. This... this made me cry a little. Fandom is an incredibly giving and generous group of people, and has set up one of its inimitable fandom auctions to raise money for Christchurch



It also makes me cry a little to see an image from my country ... my country needing all the help, my country being the focus of everyone's hopes and wishes and prayers. The cathedral in the background... the cathedral which is now a ruin, a place where people died.

I don't think the reality of the quake has quite hit me yet.

After spending a VERY long time on the phone to Jetstar, I somehow managed to get a flight to Sydney tonight. It leaves in just over 3 hours so keep all your appendages crossed that nothing happens between now and then. I am looking forward to getting on that plane and taking off, at which point I will finally relax.

Mostly I am looking forward to a) a shower and b) a good night's sleep. I am struggling to function after ONE night of being shaken awake every hour; I have no idea how Cantabrians have coped for the past six months, during which their sleep was regularly broken by aftershocks.

So much love to kiwiana and bloodnfire for picking me up from the airport and putting me up on their couch for the night. It can't have been easy to have an unexpected guest at a pretty horrendous time, especially a guest who kept tying up the phone line trying to sort out her life between bouts of frustrated tears.

I'm at the airport at the moment, and the queues for some airlines (AirNZ especially) are HORRENDOUS. I thought for a horrible moment that I was going to have to queue for hours to check in, but the Jetstar counter was practically deserted so I just went on up and asked about my baggage and when I was able to check in, and she said she could check me in right then after I'd fetched my baggage from the Jetstar baggage area. Very easy. Then I found a place to charge up my phone and laptop and ipod and now I've found the free internet (for half an hour).

It's hard to imagine that in the city centre not far away, it's like a battleground. I haven't seen any signs of huge destruction - in the part of town I was staying, you wouldn't have even known there had been an earthquake.

Much love to you all! ♥ I'll update again once I am safely in Sydney, perhaps after a shower and a sleep...

Thank you all for your messages last night. ♥♥♥

I'm watching the news and it's just so horrible. So many people buried in the rubble, so many people dead. :(

I didn't have a good night's sleep - I doubt many people in Christchurch did. Aftershocks hit all through the night and I lay awake wondering each time if this would be the one which would bring the roof down on my head. Thankfully Maria and Skye's wee house is apparently very solidly built because there is no visible damage and the roof did not fall on my head during the night.

Domestic flights resumed this morning and the airport is reportedly chaos - everyone trying to get out of town, and I don't blame them. Apparently there is going to be an announcement about international flights at 10am (in 20 or so minutes) so hopefully I'll be able to head out to the airport shortly and maybe grab a flight to Sydney then. Fingers crossed - Christchurch is not a good place to be at the moment! I would hop on the first domestic flight I could get if it weren't for the fact that my luggage was checked through yesterday and is god-knows-where in the international terminal. Hopefully not buried under rubble. ;_;

Six months since the last big one and Christchurch was just getting back on its feet. Now it's worse off than ever. :(

If you can, please donate to the Red Cross to help the relief efforts.

My day didn't start well. When I got to the airport my suitcase was 29kg and I had to take out 6kg. Then my flight was delayed by 2 hours, GRR!!!!

Got to Christchurch at about 11.40am and checked in for my Sydney flight at about 12.15pm. The security gates weren't open yet so I went for a wander for a while. I was just heading towards a likely-looking shop when suddenly I heard a rumbling and the building started to shake. My initial thought was 'is that a train?' but it was quickly dispelled by the thought 'OH FUCK EARTHQUAKE!' I clung to a pillar against the wall until it was over at which point I shook and cried and sat down on the floor crying until a couple of people in the rush of evacuees pulled me to my feet and out of the airport.

Everyone from the airport eventually made their way to a hotel nearby where the management coped extremely well by putting everyone in conference rooms and giving us seats, water, some food. Every time there was an aftershock I burst into tears again.

I managed to get hold of kiwiana who came and rescued me; I'm at her place at the moment which is one of the rare places in Christchurch which has power and running water (and internet, obviously).

65 people are confirmed dead but there are a lot still trapped and they think the toll could go up to 400. Unlike the last one which hit at 4.30am, this one was at 12.50pm, when everyone was at work, school, out in town.

The spire of the cathedral in the Square has fallen.

This was 6.3, unlike the September one which was 7.1. But this was shallower, nearer, and hit a city which was already shaken.

Aftershocks are continuing frequently. I've stopped crying thank god, but they still make my heart stop a little.

The airport is closed until tomorrow and they're hoping to get domestic flights going asap. IDK about international ones yet - hopefully tomorrow morning I'll know more.

I'm fine, just shaken. It'll probably hit me later on and I'll have a meltdown.

<3

Five hours of raiding last night. *jaw-cracking yawn* BUT it was the most fun I've had since ... well, since the previous night when I raided for 5 hours as well. (Oh, self.)

( This won't mean anything to anyone who doesn't know about WoW so I'm cutting it for your sake! )

Have ended up becoming an officer in my guild. Awesome. Now when people are being idiots in guild chat I can not only say 'hey, quit it' but I can say 'hey, quit it' and if they don't, I can kick them out of the guild. HURRAH. The guild has got really big (mostly because the guild leader has a policy of 'invite whoever you want' and tends to advertise in trade chat and general chat in the cities; I have my own opinions about that but hey, it's not my guild) but along with that size and recruiting policy comes a significant number of absolute tools. Like the guy the other night who started a discussion about religion (why oh why would you do that in guild chat??) and happily offended the crap out of everyone by saying that anyone who believes in religion is a total idiot. There were no officers online at the time and despite me and another senior member saying 'HEY STOP IT' he didn't listen. Finally an officer turned up and the kicking started. So last night the guild leader and officers said 'hey you wanna be an officer?' and I said yes because ohhhhhh the joys of being able to say 'stop that' with some power behind it instead of just 'or I'll report you to an officer!'.

A lot of people don't seem to realise that a guild is not a democracy. If you're being a dick, you're out. Don't like it? There are hundreds of other guilds for you to join where they'll let you be a dick. It is not a RIGHT to be in a guild. An officer told me he'd got a lot of angry whispers after kicking people, which pisses me off. Can't take the rules? Get out. It's as simple as that.

I've decided to sign up for spn_j2_bigbang again this year. Chances of me actually writing something are fairly slim, but if I don't sign up, chances of me writing something are nonexistant! Whatever I write will probably have something to do with WoW. XD

I got a large box in the mail from changethemusic and was delighted to find that she had sent me Dr Pepper jellybeans! OM NOM NOM. Even my parents like them although they are a bit bemused by the flavour. XD (I have to pay a tax of sorts; if I get candy I have to share it with mum and dad otherwise they'll tell me off for having candy.) So THANK YOU BB! mmmmmmm tasty. Also she sent some delicious caramel lollipops which taste SO GOOD. :DDDDDD

In WoW, it's currently the Christmas equivalent festival going on. It's quite good fun. I won a Red Winter Hat off a boss and I put it straight in the bank because it was the wrong size. it was made for a GNOME, I think. Christ. Then a friend of mine lent me his Winter Outfit so I could get an achievement, and ... holy crap. I mean. HOLY CRAP. It's basically another example of how WoW is By Men For Men. You see NPCs all around the place dressed in Santa costumes and it's really telling. The men get full-body Santa suits. The women get a scrap of fabric to tie around their chests and some short shorts.

WHERE IS MY EYE CANDY, BLIZZ? >:(

So yeah. I put this outfit on my dwarf and ... my friend just sat there and laughed. I don't blame him. This is what I looked like (not a screenshot cos I don't have one; a picture I found on flickr):

( Wow. )

Yup. That's what the hat looks like (doesn't fit dwarven women) and that's what the outfit looks like (oh hey it's someone's fantasy about women dressed in Santa costumes!). Then my friend put it on and although he looked like an overgrown Christmas elf (nelfs, eh) at least his skin was all covered. GRAWR. It's just so BLATANT.

At least my armour covers my body and doesn't look like a few scraps of metal thrown together like they do on the females of other races.

I'm off to my sister's soon; she's making me birthday lunch. :D Thank you to wendy and lessrest for the vgifts on my profile! ♥♥♥

Thank you to whitereflection and ithilmenel for the v-gifts brightening up my profile! <3 <3 <3

I'm off for dinner soon; it's Grandma's birthday so we're going out somewhere nice. I hope my headache goes away beforehand... and afterward I think some of the family are going to a carol service somewhere. I'll probably come home and play WoW. Because that is what my life is like at the moment. XD

I hope those of you who celebrate Christmas have a wonderful day tomorrow (or the next day depending on where you are). And I hope those of you who don't celebrate it have a good holiday season. :)

Man. I haven't even watched SPN yet. Isn't that pathetic? D: (this means I haven't read my f-list in two days either, which is also pathetic.) I do have reason... I spent Saturday rushing around having my hair dyed, going to choir practice, singing in final choir concert for the year, rushing home, cooking a meal to bring with me to the end of year dinner, and going to end of year dinner and staying up really late. I consequently spent most of yesterday in bed with a dreadful headache, and the rest of the day was spent feeling too ill to spend more than a few minutes on the computer. D: SO: on my to-do list for tonight is a) watch SPN! b) go to bed early!

D:

I was fucked at work today. Not in the happy fun ooh yay way - in the 'wow, I thought my headache had gone, but no it's come back at 2am and I've had no sleep!' way. The 'I've had two cups of coffee and I am STILL a zombie' way. god fucking dammit. early night tonight if it kills me. D:

Big thank yous to giantlovetingle for the early b-day v-gift (lol) and eireinn and bexta1989 for the Christmas cards! :D :D :D

Also big thank yous to all of you for not defriending me due to my complete failure to interact with you in any sort of way lately. *♥♥♥*

My hunter hit level 80 tonight. FINALLY. And just in time for Cataclysm hitting next week when the level cap will go up to 85 and I'll have to do it AGAIN. Oh well! YAY 80! I got myself fast flying too, and although I wanted to cry at the emptiness of my wallet afterwards, it's pretty damned awesome. Now I'm gonna start working on heroics so I can get awesome gear. I'm also going to get all my dungeonmaster achieves and work on my reputations with various factions for awesome mounts and other goodies. :D

The wonderful and amazing enablelove stuck my name in fleshflutter's love meme, THANK YOU SO MUCH. *loves hard* And thank you to everyone who has commented on the thread! *loves hard also*

You know what I miss so so much right now? I miss writing J2. I've been reading it again, remembering why it is so awesome, and god but I want to write it again.

aaaah it's 2.20am. I stayed up late just to get to level 80 and now Im' feeling kind of fucked. Tomorrow I have a hair appointment at 10am (WHY SO EARLY, SELF??) and then a choir concert (we had one today and there's one again tomorrow) and then I have to make something for the choir's end of year dinner. (Concert went well; I even got to sing a small solo which I don't do very often. Also we had a classical guitarist accompany us for one piece and holy crap he was gorgeous. I could barely keep my eyes off him. *_*) Then on Sunday there is another stitch&bitch but IDK if I will go - I want to get a good amount of WoW played before next week. We'll see. It would be kind of sad to not visit real life friends in favour of playing WoW, right? D:

I was so fucked at work today. Several days of not enough sleep caught up with me and oh my god I wanted to DIE. D: I was almost tempted to say I had a headache and come home. 3 cups of coffee did nothing! So I'm going to bed now, at 11pm, and calling it an early night.

There is a giant love meme going on! I haven't had a chance to trawl through it yet as I have been out all evening, but go put people's names in and leave them love. :D

Friday tomorrow. TGIF. I've got a busy weekend planned; at least, Saturday is going to be busy. Sunday is going to be epic sleeping in and doing not much productive at all.

I got my first pay the other day and I promptly went and spent most of it at City Chic. Because damn I needed new clothes. D: Dad keeps telling me 'now remember you need to SAVE most of your money!' and I'm getting tired of telling him that yes, I KNOW, but I needed new clothes! And he'll say that yes I did need new clothes but then tell me again that I need to save all my money. MIXED MESSAGES: I AM GETTING THEM.

I am almost level 80. 5% away from level 79. Was going to get it tonight but damn I'm tired. Apparently 6 hours of sleep a night is just not quite enough? D: MUST... GET... 80...

Yes, more WoW. Just scroll past if you're not interested. ;D

Today was a GOOD DAY. My main toon hit level 78 - oh man, 80 is so close. SO CLOSE. *twitch* I levelled her twice tonight thanks to Blizzard making it easier to level 70-80. I also picked up some EPIC LOOT (not game-epic, epic along the lines of 'ooooh shiny!'). Last night I was in Gundrak and this dropped. Unfortunately someone else needed on it too and I lost out. SO SAD. :( But then I did Gundrak again tonight and it dropped again and this time, no one needed on it. HURRAH NEW WEAPON. Then I got these and this (which I greeded on but won anyway OH YAY) and I almost have enough gold for epic flying THINGS ARE GOING WELL. :DDDDD Hopefully I can be 80 by the end of the week and go on level 80 raids!

(This is why I am never around. My goal is so close that I am spending every free moment working towards it...)

I came back online just now having remembered HEY IT'S SATURDAY IT'S SPN DAY!!! and was all excited for ~NEW EPISODE~ and then I discovered that apparently there is no episode tonight - or at least that's what I figure, considering no one is posting about it. NOOOOOO SADNESS. When does it come back?? It is a hiatus of MANY WEEKS or just a week off? D: D: D:

I really need to watch last week's again. Again. God damn I loved it.

Second mine blast - no survivors

:((((

Because I wasn't paying attention for the past while and didn't realise that last night was OH GIANT PATCH OF DOOM NIGHT in WoW which basically means the entire world has changed, the Shattering has occured, Cataclysm is here, Azeroth as we know it is no more, I didn't get nearly as much done as I would have liked. People took their characters on final tours of their favourite places in Azeroth and logged out somewhere they'd planned in advance. I ran around Pilgrim's Bounty hunting turkeys and cooking, then went to Zul Drak to find and tame one of these. I just made it there before the servers went down. XD I even forgot to move my hearthstone from Dalaran, DAMN.

But: glowing eyes cat! I still haven't named him/her. Need a good name for a glowing eyes cat...

Today I went to another stitch&bitch session during which we watched North & South. It was pretty good! Then I was given a giant pile of Discworld audiobooks, which, ♥_♥. I have only wanted these forever. :D



( cut for talk of rape jokes )



Haven't got much done today - went to stitch&bitch first thing and was there until 5, then my sister came over for her birthday dinner. Mum somehow managed to use every dish in the house cooking dinner (only slightly exaggerated) and after dinner, everyone sat down to look at photos. Very slowly. Photos I had already seen. So I went and washed all the dishes. There were so many. D: On the plus side, when I said 'I put the remains of the pudding in a container so I can take it to work tomorrow' no one argued with me on account of me having just washed/dried/put away ten thousand dishes all by myself.

I HAVE THOUGHTS ABOUT SPN FROM LAST NIGHT. They are mostly eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I will post about that tomorrow. For now: omg I think that was my favourite season 6 episode so far. It's the only one I've gone 'omg must watch again!' with. XD