Once again I say goodbye to a trusty friend. You were a good pen, Zebra Sarasa, and you died too young. I leave you with feelings of sadness at having used you up, satisfaction that once again I used up a pen and didn't lose you halfway through your life, and hope that one of your 20 or so brother Zebra Sarasas will serve me as well as you have. There'll never be another pen quite like you. You were a unique snowflake, even though I couldn't tell you from any of the other Zebra Sarasas to save my life when you were full of ink.

Goodbye, dear friend. May you enjoy all the benefits of pen paradise that are bestowed on pens that serve their masters well.

Either a new cycle is starting, or something that's always around is leaking into the television programs I'm watching. I suspect it's the latter.

The other day I was watching a commercial for a jewelry store. Three young girls were trying to see if their father got the piece of jewelry they suggested for Mother's Day. Well, of course he did, and naturally his wife showed her appreciation with a hug and a kiss. The children were watching and the older one said "Awww, they're so cute at that age!"

That, of course, is when my bile started to rise. What is it with these commercials? I really really hate it when commercials, and TV shows for that matter, portray adults (especially parents and most often fathers) as stupid, immature and/or clueless, while their children are smarter and more mature. The icing on the cake is when the children indulge or tolerate their idiot parents while commiserating with their siblings about how difficult it is to raise their parents.

I said I suspect this was leaking over from other television programs that I don't watch. My chief suspects are children's shows, specifically those aimed at ten to sixteen year olds, or whatever the demographic is for them. I haven't watched those shows, because I'm pretty sure I'd be compelled to stab one or more of my sensory organs after only a few minutes. The script writers and producers of these commercials and television shows thing they're being very clever, but I think they're one of the hands unravelling the threads that hold our society together. Perhaps that's a little extreme, but they are in effect promoting the view that children are in general smarter, more mature, and know better than their parents what's good for them. Anyone over the age of 25 or so knows that this is absolutely not true. Parents and adults are in general smarter, more mature and usually know better than children what's good for them.

I know that you can read commentary from writers as far back as the ancient Babylonians saying that children no longer respect their parents and that society is going to hell in a handbasket, etc. I'm sure everyone thinks that about their own time, but can we please let children be disrespectful on their own, without the help and example from other adults who's sole motivation seems to be making a quick buck off those same children, and who demonstrably have no regard for the consequences of the message they're sending.

Yesterday I had my first real OH SHIT! moment in Warhammer Online. My SW (Shadow Warrior), Sywyn was in Ostland looking for the Order warband. My Party window showed nothing in the area, but it looked like there was just a battle at the Crypt of Weapons, so off I headed. Looked empty, but everyone might have been inside, so in I went. Got all the way in to the BO (Battlefield Objective, a flag) and no one was here, so I started to come out.

On my way out, I ran in to a pack of Destro (Destruction players) who were just coming in to take the objective. We met right at one of the openings and I saw them as I came around the corner.

I stopped.

They stopped.

We looked at each other.

I thought (and said out loud), "Oh Shit."

They realized I was alone and this wasn't a trap and piled through the opening.

I ran.

They chased.

I got some licks in.

They wasted me in about 4 seconds.

I chuckled all night at us standing staring at each other in confusion through the doorway.

From what I've seen, the free gear you get from treasure chests in the RVR lakes is much better than what you get for completing the PQs (Public Quests). Heck, even the stuff you can buy based on your Renown Rank is better. Again, I'm learning this. Now I know. Next time I'll run the PQs after I get my RR gear for the tier. I've seen 40th level people in Tier 2 PQs, so I figure that's what everyone else is doing.

The more I play, the more I learn. I should really take a look for some sort of guide to RVR and just playing WHOL in general.

Capping the BO, for example, means right clicking on a battlefield objective to take ownership of it.

I've heard all kinds of other sentences uttered, almost entirely using abbreviations and have no clue what was being said. I'm going to have to take a look online for some kind of glossary of terms so I'll know what the hell people are saying.

Right now I just follow the crowd in the RVR Lakes until we find some people to fight.

My character (also called toons by some) is now in what's known as Tier 2, Rank 11-21 roughly, and is gaming in Troll Country and Ostland at this time. Now, what I know about RVR is just about nothing. As I've said, I follow everyone else in the warband and start slinging spells at destro (Destruction) outside keeps and anywhere else. Inside a keep, I always go up the stairway to the right and wait for the enemy NPC champions to get pulled out one by one. Right now I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing.

I don't know why we go to certain keeps or battlefield objectives at certain times, or why Destro does the same. There is some kind of timing and you can earn victory points for the zone you're in based on a number of things I have no clue about.

Next item of business, figure out how all that works. I wonder if there's some kind of guide to playing WHOL that I need to find and get. The answer is probably yes and yes.

On the Volkmar server, I started with an elven archer named Sywyn, named after one of my characters on NWN/FRC. I got him up to 10th level (the limit in the free trial), and managed to start three other characters, two elves (Archmage and Swordmaster) and a human Bright Wizard.

I've tried both WoW and Everquest II (the free trials), so I have a fair bit of beginners experience in MMORPGs. Regarding gameplay, user interface and mechanics, they seem pretty similar. I think people expect things to work a certain way in any of this type of game and Warhammer delivers on the basics. Of the three, I prefer WoW and Warhammer Online because they are native to Mac. Unfortunately, whenever I wanted to play Everquest, I had to boot to Windows on my Mac. The game played just fine, but if I have to choose, I'm going with one that's Mac compatible. I understand Warhammer Online only recently made a Mac client, but since I only just started that really doesn't affect me.

They all have quests, leveling happens in a timely manner, no too fast or too slow. In WHOL I like the storyline, that you start in the middle of a war and are put to work in the war effort. I started a destruction character as well on Badlands server, and you are similarly thrust into the invasion effort.

So far, Order is my favorite side. They seem to be outnumbered and outgunned by Destruction players at my level. It seems (from what I'm hearing) that there are free trial players who have been playing the same character for months and months, and who have incredible equipment which makes them much more powerful than the typical Order character of the same rank (10). I have to say I've experienced this, being on the receiving end of incredible amounts of damage from a Squig Herder and only being able to reply with about a third as much damage myself.

Still, that one thing aside, I'm having fun.

What I like -

1. Backstory - Warhammer is a very old franchise and has a rich history with incredible detail. I bought the Warhammer RPG after being aware of the miniatures game from Games Workship, and liking what I'd seen of the background story (this was way back in the late 80s and early 90s, he says, dating himself incredibly). The Warhammer RPG was full of interesting information and backstory, including characters. It was the first game with prestige classes (as far as I know, could be wrong). Your character's career branched in and out of different classes, such as Witch Hunter, Templar Knight, etc. I was never able to play Warhammer RPG, but I still have the original book.

2. RVR - I like that player vs player fighting is team based. Everything about it encourages you to form Warbands (extended parties) and go take objectives and keeps from the enemy rather than just pointless arena fighting. I'm a little frustrated at the so called "twinks" who seem to be everywhere on the opposing side, but we probably have the same twinks on other servers. I like sieges, the rams and other siege equipment you can operate, dropping oil on the players as they try to batter down your keep door, and all of that. It's a lot of fun, even though I have no idea what the hell I'm doing at this point. I'm sure I'll know later.

I know I'm not good at doing birthday stuff, but I love you and hope you have a very happy birthday.

Too Big To Fail.

I've heard this phrase a few times, referring to some banks and auto-makers and I thought it was something of an indicator of a way of thinking. A collectivist, statist mode of thought where organizations are more important than individuals (pretty much the definition of collectivism, anyway).

In my perfect world, no company is too big to fail. No "industry" is too big to fail. Why? Because of a simple law. This is not a law made by governments, because if they had their way, I think they would want to repeal it. The law I'm referring to is, of course, the Law of Supply and Demand. As long as there is a demand, someone will supply it.

Example: A major car maker goes out of business. Almost happened, but government intervention prevented it by making all of the rest of us pay them. Why are they going out of business? They can't compete. Someone else makes it better, faster, cheaper, with better quality. Or, they are bad managers. They use all their profits to line their pockets with golden parachutes and sweet bonuses even when the company is doing badly. Really, it doesn't matter. The point is, they should be allowed to go out of business.

Will the demand for cars suddenly drop now that our hypothetical car company goes out of business? No. People will still want cars, and the same number of people will want cars. The demand won't drop, because there's no reason for it to drop. So, now you have the same demand, but the supply dropped significantly. What will happen?

Prices will go up? Possibly.

Production by remaining car-makers will go up? Probably. They want a some of that stranded demand.

Ex-employees of the defunct car-maker will start up their own companies? Probably. I think it's entirely reasonable to think some of these smart engineers and managers will start their own companies and make cars they always wanted to make but couldn't.

Ex-employees will be hired by the remaining companies to help meet the demand? Probably.

So, what's happened when we let the company fail? Some people are out of work. Well, 10% of Americans are already out of work. New companies start up, requiring workers. Other car-makers increase production, requiring workers. If I seem callous about job losses, I'm not. I've been laid off more than once, so I know what it's like. I thought it was the end of the world, but it wasn't. Sometimes I did better than I did before, other times I did worse.

My point is, it won't be the end of the world. People will still make cars. People will still buy houses. People will still want all the things they've always wanted. The difference will be that the ones providing them are now the ones who can deliver better, cheaper, faster, or with higher quality.

Is that so bad?

They close at noon today because of the New Year holiday. I stayed home and tried to keep my mind on other things. I finally broke down and cried when Anne got home. I was so distraught. They will give us daily calls on this status. Anne said he was doing worst now. She gave him one chance in a hundred. We're now not even sure he'll make it until Monday. I went back to work but I'm not really able to do anything constructive. I don't know what to write about now, either.

For now we wait and hope some more.