Amber's geblaat

Since that first Drachenfest in 2002 I have played a fair gallery of characters, many of which I have played during years and years. What follows here are both my current characters and my heroes of old, long since retired or fallen in one battle or another. Pictures are courtesy of aroka, athiel_draaick, josianne, janestarz and a few unknown people - many older photogalleries have dissapeared including the credits. A few of these are quite old and actually scanned... no digital pics of those characters ;-)

Thanks to nathreee for the inspiration.

( Guess who am I? )

stepstomarrow
When granddaughter, Jada, was born with leukemia, a donor-match was located and Jada made a miraculous recovery. In honor of her grandaughter's health, Jeanna has decided to walk across the country (in the dead of winter) to raise awareness and build support for the bone marrow registry (all that's required is a cheek swab). Follow Jeanna's remarkable journey as she travels the United States by foot.

I woke up this morning to a thick layer of snow outside, not entirely unexpected, so I simply walked to the tram and took that to work. And I was there within half an hour, and a beautiful walk through Utrecht-Centrum-With-Snow to boot. And I greatly enjoyed the weather. So there it is, me going yay with this kind of weather instead of having a bad day due to epic traffic, or lack thereof. And I imagine the Flickr accounts going mad with people posting their winterpics (saw no less the three people while walking from the central station to the Nieuwegracht taking pictures of various winter-y decors.

So, how are you spending today? At home, working, in traffic or a combination of the above?

As written earlier, Unity was really cool. I have more then a few good pics of myself to show off, and overall due to both the quality of the photographers and the quality of the costumes it is all looking great. People really went all out for this one, and this is a pretty darn succesfull lauch. Second Unity will take place the end of February, and I am already looking forward to that.

Pics courtesy of aroka & woran. For those interested, check the NPC-day pics, too, something that really shows of the mood.

( Welcome to Bold Venture Station - Any time of year you can find us here... )

taste_buds
Holidays provide a built-in excuse for indulgent entertaining. This all-purpose foodie community covers everything from homemade hangover cures to dinner party menus. Need quick advice? Get five-minute snack suggestions, low-fat ingredient substitutes, and even measurement conversions. Delicious recipes garnished with humorous advice. Yum.

naturesbeauty
Always on the lookout for compelling images, we were delighted to discover this flourishing community of artists who share a love of nature. Honoring the subject with photographs, paintings, sketches, prose, poetry, and other creative works, you'll be simultaneously riveted to your monitor and inspired to run helter skelter towards the nearest wooded dale.

Or a leap too far?

So. Another level gained: I am 29 now. My first birthday in Utrecht. Normally I reserve this post for the end of the year-ish review, but since I don't know if I can make the time for it then, here it is.

( Reviewing... )

Plans for 2010:
- Losing just a tad more weight. Stabilizing around a BMI of 22 sounds dandy.
- Rebuild my solid base right here in Utrecht.
- Be happier.

I will celebrate my bday in Utrecht on Friday the 18th, in the evening. Lemme know if you want to drop by.

Game on.

backpacking
Want to embrace your wanderlust on the cheap? If you're tall on adventurous spirit, but short on funds, this community can help you plan a trip to anywhere. Offering plentiful tips on how to travel light, you can post about bargain hotels and hostels if you're into urban exploration or discuss camping gear and mosquito netting for the great outdoors. Hitch your backpack, pitch your tent, and carpe diem!

So... besides the usual selection process being harder then usual (with our main photographer flying out to the US for a conference) it is hard to full encapsulate all the various lines that were running during past Lex. It is still a bit of a blur... and I know the plotbook by heart. Ah well. A little more unusual as normally I try to tell the story of the weekend with the pics, but the second night was both busy and very photography light, so I have tried to capture the main lines of the night and a few fun pics just for the heck of it, for posterity. Damned proud of how it all looked, even in a dingy old decommissioned fortress in the corner of no and where. Next Lex we'll be 'bathing' in luxury once again, but I do so love these living bits of Dutch history.

Big thanks to to aroka, woran and Kim.

( Lextalionis VIII - Old Loves Die Hard - Mucho pics )

Phew.

All leveled to 78, geared with our first crafted blues, we gathered early near the Halls of Lightning for our triple run for the evening. Earlier on, our tank Big Blue mentioned that I might be bored with his new gear, but man, we were up for a challenge. General Bjarngrim was the first boss and we wiped on him. Multiple times. Yeah, it had been a while since that had happened, but he hit like a truck and had abilities on top of that for some more ouch. But we set our tactics to very careful and downed him. After that we had another false start with pulling not only a bunch of Elementals, but two elite packs on either side of the stairs, drawn to us by dint of our lower level. Another trip back to the dungeon, but after that we were in our element. The other three bosses, including the difficult Loken, were downed in one go - though Loken was a do-or-die moment with Baduila and me having to expend every single cooldown we had to keep everyone intact. But after a little over an hour the first dungeon was down.

Suitably careful we entered the Caverns of Time twenty minutes later for the Culling of Stratholme. That turned out to be relatively easy - I could not let up my guard and my mana was going like crazy, but the mobs hit hard in predictable fashion and, being a dungeon of mostly Undead, I kept the Cure Disease up as much as possible. DPS really came into its own there, and despite everything all bosses dropped before our tank was out of cooldowns and I was out of mana. Even Mal'Ganis with his annoying sleep ability was carefully controlled, with Marlix effortlessly taking over when I was affected by sleep, and me dispelling all the other sleeps. Nice.

Last on our list, and started relatively late for our doing, was Utgarde Pinacle, home of King Ymiron. Again, it was a dungeon which required us to stay on top of our game: DPS had to stop at tactical moments or switch targets, Marlix off-tanked as bear several times while giving me my mana pool back once in a while, and I had to keep 'em all alive through all of it. Especially Skaldi was a tactical challenge which highlighted the fact that we were a bit under level, but hey, we like that. No wipes till King Ymiron, but the first go on him proved too difficult. He hit like two trucks, had adds, curses, a healing-reducing disease, a melee DPS shadow damage buff that got worse if he got damage, and several abilities including an AOE damage sphere which followed one of us. So I had to keep everyone alive, move strategically and deal with Crushing Blows which had the tendency to reduce Baduila's health to dangerous levels at the most inopportune times. No renew gonna save that, so I had to earn my keep. But DPS was incredibly on to spec, again, decurses were deployed fast and everyone sticked to the plan. Ymiron fell with plenty of mana to spare, we took a group pic camping his throne and called it a night.

That was our last session at 78. Next session will be at level 80, with us taking the last of the 'normal' dungeons. It isn't our journey's end, but it feels like an achievement. Watch out, Arthas; Crossfire is coming home.

**FINAL EDIT Thu Dec 10 02:15:47 UTC 2009**

So there is the final update... Over the past day we have processed around 11 million jobs out of the 12 million that were in queue at that time. Please bear in mind that over this past day, more jobs for notifications are also created. So while the queue has been dropping, we are still not fully caught up at this point, due to backlog and new jobs. We have roughly 3 million jobs still pending that involve the notification system in some manner. We had hoped we could have fully cleared the queue in a day, but unfortunately we can't clear it too quickly, since we need the rest of the site to operate normally. From our current perspective on the amount of jobs that are left in queue, and how many it has processed thus far, we believe it will take around another 8 - 12 hours to process everything.

And finally some answers to some questions:

( Read More and Get Some Answers... )

freeskiers
While some of us long to escape the cold, dark stretch of winter for hot tropical beaches, for others, there's nothing quite like whoooooshing down those shimmering sugar alps. If you're fond of freestyle skiing, get ready to slide down the slippery slopes in good company. This passionate, international community shares travel/gear tips, anecdotes, photos, and videos for those who can't get enough of the sweet stuff.

seasonal_icons
Need some extra twinkle to decorate your place? Check out these dazzling holiday-themed icons. If you're an artist, you can post your own creations, provided you abide by the simple rules (which is to say, all cheer and no politicking). Be sure to comment and give credit if you wish to borrow a little spirit (no direct links, please). If you're feeling a touch of humbug this season, this is an instant shot of festivity.

handmade_gifts
High on creativity, but low on cash? You'll find tons of brilliant suggestions for do-it-yourself crafts sure to please everyone on your holiday gift list. Offering detailed instructions, photos, budgets, timelines, and active support, you'll soon turn spare remnants of fabric and time into cherished keepsakes. Be sure to search entries and read user guidelines before you post for help!

Yeah, yeah, I promised photo posts. It was busy last week, not as busy as the week before but still very very tough. Had a good talk with by work coordinator and that worked. Friday a lot of pressure got relieved and I got to spend some time with good friends which chilled me immensely. Spent Saturday chilling and spent Sunday celebrating 'Sinterklaas' with my familie in Krimpen. Suitably relaxed now, so I hope to finish my posts this week.
This week I'll have a fairly normal schedule - with project day tomorrow - so lets see how that goes. New customer, too, which is both a good and a daunting prospect. We shall see. Tonight Crossfire, at level 78, and that I have been looking forward too. It is the last of the pre-80 sessions. After that we'll tackle the nastier Northrend Dungeons and Heroics, nearly bringing Aisli to Galadaeros' level in gear and abilities.

Dollhouse absolutely rocked. The Twin Topher is now officially my fav moment and both actors really went all out (though points go to Victor for perfectly replicating Topher while Topher could just be... well... himself). Stargate Universe I have decided to drop. After Friday's ep I am heartily done with that sad squabbling excuse for an SG series. I am sorry, but after giving it a chance and just not finding my ping for 10 episodes, I think I have been forgiving enough. I'll watch after the first season is done, and if it gets renewed.

The first post-Lex 8 things have tentatively started, giving me something to work towards again. The next 'huge' Unity shove will be after "Unity 2 - Mainframe Insane" as I am happy with our current level of prep and equipment. I will add a few 'blonde bombshell' posters for the barracks, get a new command cap for on the noggin' and shout "Ready, sir!", which is a good thing, too, cause both Exodus and Lex need organizing before Unity.

For the service announcement: I am probably celebrating my bday on Friday, December 18th. My actual birthday is December 14th, but it is a Monday, which is not only an annoying day but also the day a good friend will graduate. Stay tuned for details if you are interested in dropping by.