Gone Fission

No,

Neyla and I fight quadav in Campaign.

I'm not dead. I just haven't been doing much adventuring. It seems to be an extended vacation from Vana'diel because I got distracted by other games. Last week it was Mass Effect, which I'd bought at launch and then dropped like a hot rock when I got stuck in the initial space station. Creating a new character and starting over from scratch helped, and I was soon rocketing through space fighting aliens instead of quadav and orcs.

The other game keeping me busy, released this week, was Grand Theft Auto IV. I didn't buy it, but Neyla got a copy and has been playing it at my apartment since his Xbox is still dead. I imagine this is the game that will inspire him to pick up the phone and call Circuit City to ask about the replacement warranty he bought with the machine.

That's not to say I haven't been logging on, though. It's just been for short periods that are barely worth talking about.

There have been two ENMs during my hiatus. We lost the first when Wulfgar passed out at his keyboard and missed the fight, so we didn't have the firepower to take down Pasuk quickly enough or get hate off Crookedmidget when he kept getting interrupted trying to cast shadows. A bummer, but we won the next fight and the only death was Neyla's. Hooray for Reraise.

There were one or two days when I popped on for lengthy Campaign battles. I think the biggest shock was getting a party invitation during one of them. I guess they assumed I was only partied up for Campaign and might like some experience points for Dragoon, but unfortunately I was about to log out for the night when they asked.

Neyla and I spent Monday doing Campaigns, and I came very close to hitting 63. I probably could've finished the level, but I wanted to log out and play more Mass Effect. I plan to ding (and equip some new gear) tomorrow or Friday, depending on when I'm not watching Neyla blow away citizens of Liberty City.

I

I dinged 71 in Woodworking.

also managed to hit 71 Woodworking skill by repairing clothespoles in Beaucedine Glacier. I've been carting around poles and bait and crystals for weeks, but I only seem to use them when I go out there to wait for "Test Your Mite" to start.

I've also popped on to do guild points. The crappy part about that is one evening I logged on for fifteen minutes to catch Jungle Carp out by the Temple of Uggalepih, but I'd put it off all evening and was so sleepy after doing it that I completely forgot to turn in the fish for points. I'd warped back to Windurst and logged out. I didn't realize my mistake until the next day, when I went to catch Emperor Fish and found the carp were still in my inventory.