Blizzard is going to make Battle.net mandatory. To make the change less "painful", they are trying to lure people into going willingly by offering a Battle-Bot, in league with Mountain Dew.

You use your email address to make a Battle.net account. You merge your WoW account into the Battle.net account - this uses your email address/pword from Battle.net for your WoW account at that point. Then you can claim the Battle-Bot. A key is mailed to your characters - all of them - from Jepetto in Dalaran. If you make a new character, they get a key too.

This, I suspect, is to set Blizzard up to host other online games. Can we say Starcraft or Diablo?

Anyway... You can also gain tokens to put into drawings for "l33t" gear.

I'm disappointed in how very -unsecure- the Blizzard account management system is. I don't mean their person-to-person customer support and the like. I mean, the ease at which someone can get a temporary password to your account. Without needing any personal information whatsoever. Go ahead. Check out the process to "retrieve password" if you've "lost access to your registered email account".

Clue for Blizzard: Captchas are good. Secret questions are good. But only if you use them. There are a million games out there that have key generators for them. If it can be done to those games, it can be done to yours.

In short, my (only) guildmate's account got hacked last Thursday. They reset his pword to a temporary one via the Blizzard page, and in roughly half an hour... left his paladin naked and bereft of anything in Ratchet. They also cleaned my guild bank (to which my guildmate had full access - we used it for craft storage/sharing) of nearly everything valuable. Some of the stuff that got left behind was weird. (Example, they took all of the Marks of Saergas and Kil'jaeden, but did not touch the stack of Fel Armaments, nor Arcane Tomes. Which are both worth more.)

Inside 24 hours, to Blizzard's credit, their investigation team responded that they had determined the account WAS violated (that's the best word to describe how it feels), and included a list of all the things that are "eligible for" replacement, or some word similar. I don't know if "replacement" was the word. Of course, with the Armory features, I can take that list and verify each and every item taken out of my guild bank.

I think I'll do that later. We spot checked the list and it seems like all the character's tanking gear is also being replaced. I'm most thankful they are replacing a few particular and personal items for that character. Her Blood Knight styled shield - a quest reward from SMV, and the mace she's using now (Hammer of Quiet Mourning) from a ZD quest. There would be no way for me to replace either of those, not even with 10 or 20 thousand gold.

So, on one hand I'm really not happy with the lack of prevention that Blizzard has in place to protect accounts... (What good is a great account password, and protective software, when someone with a keygen program can eventually just reset my pword and have it sent to their own email address?)... and on the other I'm pretty pleased with how quickly they responded. And, of course, that they responded how I -expected- the matter to be handled. I was VERY ready to contact a GM after the whole thing to bitch about my guild bank items, if they didn't opt to replace them.

Hopefully they will track down wherever all those things were sent. (I'm pretty sure, with the amount of backups and things they can trace in the game that they can track down at least one or two steps of transferred items. At the LEAST, whether the character mailed all the items or traded them by hand, and to whom between 7am and 8am Thursday morning.)

mood: awake tags: warcraft

241

tags: weight

Two days ago, it was down to 235. I'm on my cycle, so it's 238 today. I count that pretty decent since I feel like my lower abdomen is an overstuffed ...thing.

tags: weight

I know most of you don't really give a crap about World of Warcraft, and that's okay.

I WAS excited about 3.1. WAS. I mean... Ulduar. Wooo! I'm a fiend for the Creator/Titan stuff, honestly. Especially with the way Ulduman and that other place... just sort of left us hanging.

Then I started looking at class changes.

I have four characters above level 60. A rogue, a hunter, a paladin (ret since birth), and a warlock. DPS whore? Maybe so. I just don't like the pressure/responsibility of being a tank or healer. They are largely thankless jobs if anything goes wrong, even if it isn't their fault. Anyway...

Amongst those, I have pretty much every money-eating crafting skill known to man. Engineering being the biggest money muncher (but fun for me). So!

How many ways does thou fuck me, Blizzard, let me count them!

I'm still not sure what they are doing with hunter ammunition. They are getting rid of quivers/ammo pouches. This is all part of the homogenizing process. (Hey, if I wanted to be homogenized, I'd go play a game that only has two or three classes, thx!) They say they will replace the container buffs in some other way... but I'm not clear whether the hunter is going to have to continue to purchase ammo, or what. If not... well, happy day, I guess... for my hunter.

Sad, sad day for my engineer. The only thing I've been able to make any decent money off of (and even then, I'm only making a few gold above material costs) in WotLK has been the Saronite Arrow Maker. I don't mark them up, like I probably could. I literally make maybe 3g above the value of the saronite used to make them. ...yeah, that's profitable. Whatever.

Then, there's warlock woes. Shards. Yes, we all love shards. The reagent that warlocks need for big spells, or for summoning, or rituals. But! Imagine you're a mage, and none of your reagents are stackable. Wouldn't that be _great_? No, it wouldn't. And so, it has never been awesome that soul shards don't stack. They SHOULD stack. Even fucking CLAMS stack now. Clams, that technically have their own little loot table to be randomly rolled on when you open them (I recall something in UO being unstackable and the programmers telling us it was because of the unique contents of each individual item, and their coding wouldn't allow it to stack, etc.)... but no. Soul Shards, not unique in ANY way... can't stack.

Blizzard says "We'll take a look at it." Their solution? "Hey, so, we looked at it and we decided we are going to limit the number of shards you can carry, how's that?"

What?!

How the crap does that make ANY sense? I can limit how many I carry well enough on my own, thanks!

Grr. Then! They take one of my destruction talents, and are moving it to the demonology tree... onto TIER 8. That means there's no way in Hades I can get it. Period. What talent? What does it do?

Molten Core - Rank 3
Your Shadow spells and damage over time effects have a 15% chance to increase the damage of your Fire spells by 10% for 12 sec.

So, why is this going into the Demonology talent tree? Why are you taking this away from my Destruction (thus fire, with a little smattering of shadow bolts and curses) warlock?





Grrr! Just grr! This is the first time Blizzard has released a patch that just really annoyed the crap out of me. See, this change with hunter ammo? This opens the doors to removing other bag-space using items for classes... which leads to the money-making tailoring item (bags, and a little less so their specialist counterparts)... just grr! Stupid "let's make everything fair and even and balanced and easy". If I wanted easy, I would stick to FF games, and single player games I can use cheat codes in, or follow walk throughs. What I want is things that make sense.

I haven't been exercising, though I have tried to keep moving a little more during the days. I'm also considering getting one of those balance/exercise balls to sit on when I'm at my computer (which is much of the time). It'll help my posture (which is awful), and give my core muscles some badly needed working.

Here's an idea of how much my weight fluxes daily. One day it can be 242. The next 235. Today it is 235. I'll take it.

tags: weight

Dear Mr. President,

I know it's not your fault, the insanely protective treatment you receive... but where can I send a bill for the $30 I'm losing this week because someone decided that the entire length of 6th Avenue had to be blocked off for your visit to Denver?

You really didn't do anyone any favors today, and I experienced a moment of "glad I'm not employed", because I'd have been hard pressed to explain to my boss why I was so late getting back from lunch. That's right, Mr. President. Your little trip blocked off a major thoroughfare (or, for some of us, just kept us from getting to the other part of Aurora) during lunch hour.

That's super. I'm sure this stimulus package will be worth it. For someone. Since I only made about $2500 last year before I was fired, I doubt I'll be seeing any of it. So I'm hard pressed to feel awed or thankful for your visit to my living area today, or for the reasons you're here.


Dear Aurora/Denver officials,

Thanks for announcing that the road would be closed off. Had I known, I would have been able to plan ahead. Instead, I get to a light and have to figure out why. Thanks, douches.


Edit: You may not think $30 is a big deal, but it is when it's half of the total money I have the potential to earn in a week.

mood: annoyed

I forget how I got to the blog... I think it was Gaiman's > A Knitting Blog with Coraline Gloves > This Blog, which I've liked very much, and where I found this neat little "Thankfulness Tea Party" idea.

I like reasons for dressing up. And having tea. And scones. ...and there's the added benefit of "positive things to do".

One thing to say: Classical Zombie Literature. That's right. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

The scarier part? Hollywood is already pondering making it into a movie, and it hasn't even been released as a book yet! ...frickin awesome.

I am home from my draining session (I donate plasma - the money is the main motivation and I freely admit it, that it helps people is a very very pleasant side effect).

The past few weeks have been an experiment of the physical sort. One day, about 3 weeks ago, I hit 246 pounds on the scale at the donation center. That's horrifying. Doesn't matter if I just ate a huge lunch (to make sure the anti-coagulant doesn't make me sick/pass out)... that's only four pounds shy of 250 pounds, which is half of 500 pounds.

I'm not the kind of female who stared in a mirror at 135 and said "I'm so fat and ugly." I didn't do it at 155. I didn't do it at 185. I didn't even allow myself to call ...me fat at 195. 200 was my limit. It wasn't a matter of denial. It was a matter of positive self image. I didn't think I was thin, by any stretch of the imagination. I just wasn't disgustingly fat (fuck you, you vanity stricken people who think any girl over 120 is 'disgustingly fat', just fuck you, okay?). I've got a medium to large body frame, and I carried it well. Even now, I'm still decently proportioned. My stomach doesn't stick out further than my breasts, and my breasts don't vacation on my stomach.

So, I started things. For about two weeks, 4-5 days of the week... I did an hour of exercise in the mornings. Jenna-fied Pilates (from a Beginners DVD from the Australian Institute blah blah blah) - so named because there's no such thing as "Pilates for Fat Chicks", and there's NO way on this earth or any other that I could possibly do their thigh stretch, putting almost 250 pounds of pressure straight down on my knee, regardless of how much padding is underneath it. Those were about half an hour, then I put in my Callanetics DVD (which I think is "Callanetics: 10 Years Younger In 10 Hours" or some such, as a dvd), and did most of those. I skipped the leg/pelvic exercises. My legs just aren't up for that. I did extra stretching for them instead.

I also ordered a few supplements from a pharmacy that does online shipping: Swansons. I purchased three things: Acai, 1000mg (my pee is the color of mountain dew, thanks to all the extra vC), Thyroid Essentials (mostly for the trace metals and iodine I'm sure I'm short of, all manner of vBs, and other goodies for thyroid health), and Detoxilean (a system detoxifier, but not "cleansing system" - there are no purgative/laxatives traditional in many of the rougher cleansers - their names escape me but two are rather harsh purgatives common to most of the systems. this has things like dandelion root, psyllium husk, flaxseed powder, ginger root, milk thistle extract, aloe vera (yes, I'm aware some are diuretics, etc, but mostly are mild))...

The cleanser I don't take all the time. I'm doing one every other day, just to make sure the combination of herbs in it REMAINS a mild effect. The other two I do once or twice a day (they recommend 1 tablet 2x/day anyway).

So. 246. I forgot to make notes about changes since, but last Thursday I was at 240. Today I didn't get to see their scale, but I weighed myself here before going to lunch. I was at 238.8.

Of course, two days ago, I had severe stomach cramping and then poopsoup. (Do you really need details on that?) so I am probably still a little dehydrated (beyond my usual). I was fine for donating, and finished in my standard 45 minutes, so I really can't be THAT dehydrated. There are people who donate less plasma than me who take longer because they are less hydrated. But not dehydrated enough to be deferred for the day. Go figure.

mood: woooooo

...a mallard, I think.

Mostly I think it's time to redo-something to my journal. Not that I'm much of a presence here anymore (or that I ever was), but I think it's time for something new. Maybe a "state of the union" address, too. Because who really knows what's going on with me? No one, actually. Not even me. And even if I did post a "here is everything about me right now", it wouldn't be everything. There's things you never commit to text. Things you don't want other people to know, so you never write it down, even if one day it could be a best seller or get you on Oprah for stupid reasons. "You're so strong, so brave. Did you feel guilty?" Blah blah blah.

That is all.

mood: blah

Fuzzy brain. Lots more dreaming (how I have missed it, really) and this time about a flooded mountain village? with a train station and a train that goes through Milwaukee (forgive me if I spelled that wrong)...and now the name of the train escapes me. It was something weird/creepy.

Then the village is attacked by things. Ghouls? There's kids hiding all over, and a vampire in a house with a lady. Sexy scene there, the details of which I will keep to myself. Involved dream physics, where a lady could be set on the edge of a table and the person she's with can move around and STAND behind her. (Small table? not really.)

The flood bit is blended with all this. A man on a llama can't get up the hill to the train station. There's a part with me using his laptop to try to help him find another place he can catch the aforementioned train. Then my character Phoebe is in it, policing the weird village. Then I'm in... Burger King? and someone is giving me a stack of pregnancy tests. I take one and it comes up with a pink matching line, which I GUESS means "positive, yep, sure are", but I honestly have no idea. It just had one pink line, one blue line that could show up and a little circle with a pink line in it that never went away. *shrug*

I need to get my Ian McKellen/Professor Moriarity dream bits posted sometime.

Yesterday, I think it was, I didn't like my dreams. Mostly they involved being tortured. (Me being tortured by no one, someone, who knows.) And that involving the top of my skull being removed. Highly uncomfortable, let me tell you.

tags: dreams

I hate network television. I hate it, I hate it.

Fuck you, NBC. Just fuck you. Fuck you, fuck Fox, fuck Sci-Fi.

Yes, I'm a few months slow in finding out that My Own Worst Enemy was canceled. You know, had to free up that slot for Mamma's Boys. Or whatever the fuck that retarded Oedipus reality show is called.

GRRR.

Nielsen ratings are only accurate if the majority of people are reporting their watching to you. Guess what? No one I know does that, so how can those things be accurate? They can't. And hey! Great idea, putting a new show on opposite of CSI on Monday nights. STELLAR!

It would at LEAST be nice if you'd finish a fucking season, and not end in a cliff hanger. Douches.

mood: grumpy

I was a girl, hired onto a ship. I lived in Colorado, but mentally that seemed to exist further north, where the Great Lakes are. I'm hired off onto a ship. Leaving behind the boy I love (who looked/seemed a lot like my high school friend Aaron. was actually a guy that another girl dated. cute and all that.).

I get on the ship. There are three crew members though only two figure anywhere 'heavily' into the dream. I would be the fourth. I don't know if it is a research vessel or a fishing vessel. Winter storms hit, we are sailing north, we do make it to land at some point. We are somewhere in Florida. We have hotel accomodations through Winter. The ship is stored... as a model sized version of itself. (Think UO.) I find a large wallet and cash in it. I take $55. I got $60 from my time on the ship.

I am a girl. Small, blond, naive. I consider going home until it is time for the ship to leave port again. They tell me of the rooms in the hotel. 9419 was the number. Though to access the rooms was like accessing a block of data from an old defrag map. Once accessed, I find our 'rooms' are a small hut layout. All three other crew members are asleep. I think the third is a female. Two males. Captain and his first mate who is almost dwarf-like in my dream. (D&D dwarves) He's awake. Watching me. I change as quietly as possible in the dark. He grabs my arm as I pass. Starts talking about how it is a full moon. (I have hazy recollection of other dreams in the night referencing the full moon too.) Werewolves come out on full moons, he doesn't feel well. I kiss his forehead, smooth back his hair and he is soothed off to sleep.

I go out and start looking around a little. There is someone after me. A tall man in elaborate robes. Like you'd think a vampire would wear. But he's not a vampire, I don't know why he wants me/this girl. And I do mean "wants".

The crew knows. They want to prep me to fight him? They get me dressed in pretty dresses and fine lace and I need to go to church. It's supposedly some kind of Catholic Church. But I have to take a plate of peas, a yam, and a small loaf of bread? Each are to be eaten in representation of sins, and then purged or something like that. There's a nun outside the church entry way that makes sure you get them. We go in, get seats. They are talking about slouching, relaxing being a sin. The bad guy appears behind me. Kills a few people. No one really knows what to do. There is, for SOME reason, a bed in a nearby front corner area (the church was shaped like a cross apparently and we were in one of the extended side parts). He lies down on his back, pulling me down on top of him, on my back. There are shackles on the bed. One for feet, one for each hand, and one for around the head or neck. A nun comes over to interfere or something. He asks her to invoke the litany of Benevolence. All I can remember from it is that intelligence is a sin. As this is being recited, the girl is forced to fasten one of the shackles around her wrist and his together. (I'm no longer saying "I" because I'm more or less just watching, after she goes to the hotel part.)

Dream shifts to the other female crew member who seems to have betrayed the girl in order to secure her place as most beloved or something. Dream shows a short clip of visuals that are apparently how she is imagining it unfolds. It is interupted by a gasp from the crowd. The dwarven style fellow... who has over the course of the time of getting the girl "ready" (which seemed like days/weeks) fallen in love with her... has done just as she's asked him to do. Using a silvered, jeweled sword, he's stabbed through her heart, and thus through the heart of the badguy beneath her. A white light begins to glow from her chest, there are tears from her eyes, she whispers "Thank you" and things fade to black. The captain and dwarven man return to the dry dock, where the 'model' of their ship is kept. There's a group of midgets/kids there. They shoo the kids, to look over the ship for a "sign". One of the lead kids, more like a grown midget... says that "If yer weren't so daft, yer'd see it." And points out that... on the deck of the ship, in the upper area toward the ...bow? in the wood work, you can see a very faint outline of her face, and there are water stains on the deck where her tears would be.

Then the power flickered and my powersupply woke me up.

tags: dreams

I R VOTED.

It is 2:08 AM and I have just finished filling out my ballot for this year's general election. Boo-yah, as they say. I'm loving this whole mail-in ballot thing. I received it today, I will put it in the mail tomorrow.

Maybe tomorrow I will also crop up and post some of the pictures of my first mail-in ballot experience. (No, you won't get to see my actual votes, just blank paperwork, and a sealed envelope with my signature, making my ballot count. So they say.)

Now, I sleep.

Also: Colorado is frickin awesome! The Legislative Council of the General Assembly sends a booklet to registered voters... it gives a Cliffs Notes version of the Amendments up for the state portion. Talks about what the amendments are meant to do, evaluates their potential impact, gives an equal number of for and against arguments. It also, in the back, gives you a copy of the actual verbiage of the amendments.

How sweet is that, really? I've participated in two elections. I voted in 2004, in Florida, and I've now completed my voting here in 2008 in Colorado. I am a million times more informed this year than I was in 2004. Having this little booklet to put the proposed amendments in plain English was so wonderful.

I may or may not participate in NaNoWriMo. I know I can write 1319 words in 30 minutes, but I also know that writing 1500-2000 words/day... I burn out in about 4 or 5 days, typically. I have no discipline.

So, we'll see, on all counts, eh?

Did you know, we have 16 candidates for President?

Did you also know there is a party that goes by the name of "Boston Tea"? ...Yes. The Boston Tea Party. I can't make this shit up. (I have photographic proof!)

location: basement cave mood: sleepy music: Daily Show tags: politics

I had a weird epic battle dream. Ryzom meets Tolkien. Jez and the House are there, Jez goes to help one other guild. I forget WHO they are. We had lego tower buildings. Some weird shit happens. A GIANT troll... I mean, I'm Jez and it's finger is as long as I am. Orange, sweating profusely, looks sick... black eyes. it's attacking us, on the top level of this building.

I'm the only one who lands a hit on it. It talks like a WoW Troll. Thanks me. I look confused. "You'll know what I mean in about 6 minutes" Kind of scared shitless, Jez hops out of that particular structure, running for the back of "our side" of the field.

Start to feel woozy. Find Jela. Tell her what happened. Around us, there are other wounded people from the battle starting to vomit black liquid. Also, we are losing badly. "That, that's what is coming." They also start dying.

Jela makes a run, dodging cuttler and finds some herbs. Atthis point we also find out this whole battle is over who will possess a child. Some reality altering child. The good guys rush the tower. Some of them are nutso. Like, their brains have broken during this.

They find the child in the tower, in a small wooden carved cradle thing that you can hold. so he looks like .... hrm and apple split in half? the child thing at the core.

well the "child" is a small man, dehydrated, DEAD. Nothing. Jela and I exchange looks. she makes the throat slash dead gesture. I nod. the thing was brown all over. and it's face was frozen in this awful expression. I dont remember eyes, but the mouth was open to scream.Could see its ribs.

we discretely bury the child.

there's some bleed over from another dream that involved a goth shop and me showing people I could walk on those 4 inch platform babydoll 6 inch heels.

Enon and some witchy chick meet over a cauldron. I start making a cross from a broken reed and tying it together with strands of hair. Jela is doing the same and I wake up.

There was some other part of a dream about a city locked inside an old pyramid? fuck if I know. we had a door that bolted like mall doors.

tags: dreams

Keanu. Him and a lation woman, she is like 7-8 months pregnant. They enter "stormwind" which is set up a bit more like a mall-ized downtown area. They get into "Stormwind" and are looking for an apartment (after a bunch of shenaniganry about being "officially" in the city and some weird travel through swamps with dead things) They are sitting in one. It's a craphole, the LL wants $600/month for it. She is saying no way.

A show-er person comes in with another couple to look around. She shows off a water dispenser in the wall? (Later this wall is not there) And gets water on the latino womans bags. Which are full of books. They move the bag, the books are fine. Keanu is standing near the wall, back to it... except, now there's no wall, just a knee high mini wall. He gets bumped. he falls over.
Apparently from about 100+ stories in the air. The side of the building has no windows. some random pipe ends sticking out, but it is a straight brick wall plummet down to the ocean? He's falling. the woman goes into labor. They are screaming words in a language I do not know, back and forth. Well he can hear her screaming in labor anyway. he starts saying _something_ over and over. manages to grab a pipe end to stop falling. I can also, in the dream, see him projecting his voice. see the wavelength changes?

fucientce mi ?

I don't know. there were subtitles of what he was saying and it was something like that. He kept yelling it, over and over and over. he hears her screaming stop, thinks she has died. His hand slips... fade to black.

sometime in the future, a college class in one of those weird round rooms like you see in movies like Dracula (Bram Stoker's, Hopkins, Oldman, Reeves, Ryder, Elwes)?

the speaker introduces the latino woman who lost her baby. lost her soulmate. and during the pain of childbirth, bit off the outter halves/quarters of her tongue. I forget what she was there to speak about.

tags: dreams

Ivy was on an island. at least, I think it was Ivy. the troublesome part was the girl was too nice to really be Ivy. Like if Ivy were a good mage versus an evil sorceress type.

anyway, there was a zombie infection of some kind? She has managed to resist it. Her lover of the time (no idea who the figure was 'supposed to be' if anyone) is turned but maintains some sentience. Constantly trying to 'trick' her into turning too. Eventually she is tricked into consuming some of the infected blood. She only consumes some of it. It half changes her. She is able to convince her beau it is completely.

She's stuck on this island. somewhere there is a guy that escaped the island stuck on a smaller one. almost just a cave above water.

the lover's mother? shows up and is also a sentient zombie queen. she hates this supposed-ivy. She tries to kill her. During the attempt, Ivy forces the contaminated blood out of her system (it has been slowly driving her insane anyway - the thoughts/visions of a zombie overlying with her rational mind, etc). She vomits. the lover comes up. reveals that he KNOWS she had been studying some ancient texts with some ancient wizard that taught her what she just did, etc. I guess he was going to kill her. I didnt get the impression that it happened, but that dream kind of cut off.

shift to Mariette. she is part of an isolated order of Tyr? worshippers fighting against some kind of plague or revolution or something like that. There are a lot of mysterious shrouded clericy-priest types helping them, and there's a weird maze between their hq and this open expanse. In the maze and beyond are spirits of the dead. only the priests and the high wizard who leads the thing can guide you past the spirits safely.

Mariette is taken out to "the front". The biggest trouble is that all wounded must be healed, resurrected before they can become tainted/undead of some kind. There is a group of people fighting. But they are fighting... other live people. The archwizard type, also shrouded, his face covered, explains that they are rebels somehow siding against the sect and against humanity. many of them are former followers of Tyr who have forsaken their god. mariette is saddened, and a little worried about why they are still fighting each other. there is an implication that anything alive that is killed and not 'taken care of' will come back stronger and must be killed again. After that, it doesnt come back anymore.

Mariette is ordered to engage a figure in combat. she's using this huge mace and shield. She approaches, pulling out her mace, her shield not coming free until they have exchanged blows. They fight for a while, neither really either to hurt the other. THe rest of the fighting around them is done/stops. Only a couple priests and the archwizard remain far in the background, watching these two fight. then both of them stop fighting. Both of them drop their weapons and shields to the ground. and they embrace. plate makes this a bulky thing, but they do it. Almost cheek to cheek they simultaneously whisper "Who are you?" both of them are near to tears. obviously something between them though they apparently have no idea who each other is. she tries to convince him to come back to the 'church'. He cannot. Just as he is about to explain why, the wizard and 2 priests approach. they call him by name - a name I cannot recall or could not really 'hear' in my dream. they indicate a fallen comrade of his.

"Will you fight our champion (they mean Mariette)?"
"I will not."
"Then you are bested and outnumbered. You must come with us. Tend your friend, (they name her too)."

He goes over to heal his fallen friend, without dispute. One of the two priests picks up his mace and shield. The other picks up Mariette's, handing them to her. Mariette moves to help him heal his friend. The wizard puts a hand on her shoulder and shakes his head. She watches him walk by, eyes down, carrying a girl who was apparently a rogue type (not much armor, daggers, a rapier). He doesn't look at her, but there's no sense that he's mad at her. The priests and wizard take the lead, Mariette follows from behind. They pass a few beholder corpses that they know they will have to fight later.

I wake up.

mood: awake tags: dreams

Panera Bread has made me sad. Fake sugars have also made me sad.

When I worked with Nextel, in the latter half of 2004, we would often go out to lunch (my team and I). We frequented Panera Bread a number of times. They had a Strawberry Poppyseed salad that was to die for. I remember it being very simple. A bed of greens (spinach was a key leaf, I recall), strawberry slivered slices, nuts (walnuts or pecans, I cannot recall), and wonderful poppyseed dressing.

While browsing some restaurants yesterday, I noticed that there are Panera Bread locations here also! Wonderful. On their menu, I found;

Strawberry Poppyseed
NEW! Crisp romaine lettuce, fresh strawberries, blueberries, pineapple tidbits, Mandarin oranges, pecans and our fat-free reduced sugar Poppyseed dressing.

Well, it's not exactly the same, but that's okay. Ooh! They've added a lot more fruit! Nice. But what is this? Fat Free? Reduced sugar?! Okay, okay. Maybe the recipe for the dressing just has less sugar. Maybe I can call and find out. But lo'! What is this? if I click on the Strawberry Poppyseed, it shows me various nutritional information.

fat free reduced sugar (poppyseed filtered water, distilled vinegar, maltodextrin, dehydrated onion, contains less than 2%: cellulose gum, orange juice concentrate, poppyseeds, salt, mustard flour, xanthan gum, propylene glycol alginate, sucralose, sodium benzoate)

This makes baby Jesus weep. Sucralose, more commonly known as Splenda, is a creation of science-gone-wrong. "It's made from sugar!" Yes it is. In the same way that hydrocholoric acid is made from hydrogen. So is water! I'll drink the second one, you drink the first.

Aspartame, Sucralose, and all the varied 'sugar substitutes' in the world hurt me. They taste godawful. I would rather lick the dirty gym socks of a fat man after 3 hours working out than drink a diet soda. It's not "the principle" of the thing, though it would be if the stuff didn't taste like I was licking a snail's asshole. The taste alone saves me from invoking principles on the fake-food world.

Why, why Panera? Why have you forsaken me with your corruption by Fake Food?

Edit, after posting this... my land lord personage presented his dirty socks to me to lick. Later, I should do it again and take a picture. I did.

mood: why! music: Evanescence - Breathe No More