Reality Check
I remember when I was but a young boy and saw my first Big Deal movie. It was a Big Deal because my Mother took me to see a movie, a new release no less, in the Big City. But to make sure I could fully appreciate it, my Mother rented the movie Star Wars on VHS beforehand. Looking back, I suspect that maybe she wanted to see Empire Strikes Back and tried to justify seeing it by getting her son hooked on it too.
Mission accomplished, Mom.
Seeing Empire that day was important for a few reasons. Going to The City was always an event, which made seeing Empire that much more impressive. Having seen Star Wars just a few days before, the events in a galaxy far, far away were fresh in my mind when I saw what was happening in Empire. And I saw Princess Leia – a strong female lead in a time where you really didn’t see that very often in movies.
Like I said, I was a child at the time. We’re talking single digit age here. So being a kid from a small town, I hadn’t been exposed to much. But what I did know is that between my Mom and Princess Leia, strong women were cool. That would help shape my appreciation and respect for women throughout my adult life.
Yesterday, Carrie Fisher passed away. Social media mourned the loss of yet another celebrity, having lost George Michaels just a few days prior. I saw many people reflecting on how rough 2016 had been with the loss of so many icons. I also read posts from people reminding us that people die all the time, most of them not celebrities, and that maybe folks should chill out a little.
I can’t speak for anyone else. But for me, 2016 hasn’t been about losing cultural icons. It’s not the loss of those who shaped entertainment and society. It’s a little more personal for me.
2016 has reminded me that I’m going to die, and that is Reality.
Nobody likes to think about their own death. It’s hard for people to wrap their head around it. For many, the thought of passing away seems so far into the future that it’s barely worth thinking about. Most of us feel fine, healthy, and can’t even imagine dropping dead. It’s something that happens to old people, or sick people, or other people. We never think it will happen to us.
Until someone close to you dies.
My Mom passed away from brain cancer back in 2012. That was my first big reality check. Death was real, and it could happen anytime to anyone. Message received, and that event reshaped my thought process on Life in general.
But 2016 was filled with the death of people that were a major part of my childhood / teenage years. People like Prince. George Michaels. David Bowie. Ron Glass. Mohammed Ali. And now, Carrie Fisher. I read about people complaining the movie remakes “raped their childhood.” In 2016, I watched my childhood start to die. Major icons that I saw in concert, or on film. People I saw in their prime, years before I would reach my own. People, who in 2016, passed away.
This year was another message for me – you’re getting older, and the Finish Line is getting closer.
I think that’s why a lot of people are upset, even if they don’t necessarily want to admit it to themselves. Deep down, watching these celebrities pass away reminds them that the End is coming for all of us. These people with the spotlight on them just happened to cross first. But many of us who run in the shadows, are closer to the finish line than we want to admit.
In 2016 I mourned the loss of icons from my youth. I know I have more years behind me than in front of me. But this year kinda makes a guy wonder how much time is left for any of us.
Happy Wednesday, y’all.
Level Headed
There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
That’s a figure of speech and not an open admission of sadism. I feel like I need to clarify that sort of thing because this is the Internet after all and some of you are pretty twisted.
Not me, though. Nope. Right as rain here.
Of course, that gets called into question when I decide to level another alt to 110. To be fair, it didn’t start off that way. At first, it was just an experiment to see how much gold I could make on a new server. I had a boosted toon on a Horde server, but rather than level up yet another DK I decided that my farming toon would be a Demon Hunter. No twinking, no locking his level. Just run my farming route and let nature take its course.
Now my DH is 110 with an iLevel of 822. It’s been fun, so I’ll probably finish off his Class quest, get him his Slayer title, and then call the experiment complete. I have to admit, I actually enjoyed leveling this time around. Probably because I didn’t do it the way I did over the past four toons. I learned a few things, and if I level another character I may do this again.
What did I do? What did I not do?
- I didn’t follow the zone storylines. Been there, done that four times already. Wasn’t excited to do it for a fifth. Not entirely, anyway. My priority with my DH was as a farming character, and that’s what I did. Grinding mobs. Picking flowers. I focused on that, and every quest that did not involve doing something involving the lore/zone storylines. I did the Profession quests. Order Halls. Class quests. I snagged his other artifact weapon just for the XP.
- Zone storyline quests fill in the gaps. Two things suffer when you level outside the main quest lines – your artifact power and your gear. I got a little bit of each from completing the occasional random dungeon, but it wasn’t until I started doing the zone storylines that I started getting some meat on those bare bones. Mind you, I was already 108 when I started pushing zone content for the fifth time. But even those two zones that I did run were enough to get me a respectable iLevel by the time I reached 110.
- PVP paid off. I’d queue up for dungeons while I was leveling, but it wasn’t until level 108 before I even considered dipping my toe into queueing for random BG’s. I could select two that would not be up for random selection, and the wait time was shorter than dungeons. I was surprised by how much XP I was being awarded for winning. I didn’t pull exact numbers, which could be reason enough for me to lean this way if I level another character. The gift box at the end of the BG also had the potential to provide artifact power, gear, or gold. If and when I level up another character, I may start this a bit sooner and take note of the spoils of victory.
Like I said, I’m still working on Captain Demon Hunter. He’s not quite finished his class quest. But while he may not be a Slayer yet, he was killing the content in his own way. Get it? Slayer? Killing the content?
JOKES, people.
Also, Happy Holidays.
Rokk Talk 