Disappointed devil

I've been waiting almost a decade for the third installment of an awesome video game, and now its here.  Excitement ensues? Well ya, but there is a bitter aftertaste to this dessert.
Diablo 3 has announced a new feature by which players will have the ability to choose between two different auction houses, one that strictly uses the gold currency of Sanctuary the fantasy world, and one that uses your USD ($).  I do not agree with this concept entirely. I say, a great idea but there is a grave error that will create a rift between players who will pay more for the best and those who cannot pay and will never get the best. Have a scenario to chew over:

This is you profiting in $AH

{Well lets say you find item X, and this item is fucking awesome sauce but you cant use it. so the thing to do is sell it. now you have to decide, do you sell it for gold or RL monies? HELL YA you want the real deal. Now, little me comes along and I would very much like to have that item but i have not been lucky enough to find it on my own. so the thing to do is buy it. now i have to decide: gold or money? well, I cant really be spending my hard earned paycheck on fantasy items (i can only work so many corners to cover the rent ya know), so I go to the gold AH. low and behold... the gold AH does not have the item.
Now, Mr. Richy Rich (a fictitious 3rd person to this scenario) also wants that fracking awesome item X. He has plenty of his over-supportive (and live-in) parents' USDs in his paypal acct. So he goes straight to RL money AH and buys item X, no sweat. You profit, he wins, and I lose.}

Bad internet people are bad; never assume that they will do something charitable, like putting item X on the game-gold AH (no benefit to themselves in RL).
I dont have the ability to free myself of my monetary restrictions, therefore I am only allowed access to the shit people put on the goldAH. all the shit they dont care as much about.
My solution is simple and wouldn't really bother too many people. Separate these options to their own servers/realms.  Those who choose to use real money can have their own world to play and profit. Those of us who cannot use the real money function can be left in our own world and left to our own market system without the overpowered weight of real money.
I don't trust the other people out there and I sure as hell don't trust them with my real money. Hell I don't even trust Blizzard or especially PayPal when it comes to using my cash.  We asked for diablo, well folks, we got it and he's here to rape us, steal from us, and kick us while we're down; I hope you paid the right price for that body armor.

On another note, I seemed to have thought it was a good idea to run for the president of CGI for the next school year.  Video game club, are you ready for this Femme Fetale?

Xibalba, adventure through

The path I have been following has become a bit overgrown, brambled, and difficult to navigate.  Someone hand me a flashlight please.  The amount of school work I've had to do is increasing to an incredible level and it's nowhere near the level cap.  I'm a little worried that I am losing steam for the adventure through school.  The last thing I want is to get burnt out on something I love to do.  What I want is security and stability, and what if I can't situate myself properly? I'm not sure what to do.  I want to do so many things while I am still in school, because I will have a harder time doing them later, however, the more I put on my plate, the more I just want to pick up and just go travel the world for a year or something crazy like that.
Dreams of far away places are not the only things star-crossing my mind.  I also have many an image of settling down and establishing a comfortable home where I can relax and have carefree afternoons.  All of this worry and conflict is driving me crazy at the moment.  I can't do this moody sleeping-in-and-I-don't-care-about-the-world every morning.  I need to find a way to get past that and realize that I can't retire quite yet, I have a few requirements to meet for that still.
I have a dilapidating fear.  A fear of leaving school. A fear of what happens after the degree is over.  I mean, I know the world of work is awaiting my expertise and talents... but that sounds so boring.  No one wants boring.  My career field is filled with many interesting things, but I'm quickly learning that if you want to be a part of the interesting projects you need to be a fucking rock star, and until that day (the same day pigs will be granted viable flying mechanisms) you are going to be doing the little menial jobs in the windowless basement.

I'm coming against conflict with my academic advisor and I have little--rather, no argument for my case.  He says lithic analysis is the key to the future of archaeological research. My mind says lithic analysis is a colorless and arithmatic analysis of archaeological materials.  Don't get me started on that pile of debitage.  I can't just tell him that his dissertation topic is a steaming pile of shit and I'd rather not touch it with a ten foot pole.  The scholar demands a bit of logical reasoning for any of my disagreements. I have nothing except that I would just rather study the stone cold bodies of ancient Greek and Roman marble statues, rock art, herioglyphics, paleo-lithic weaponry, or Mediterranean maritime trade of all ages.  I wouldn't mind visiting South America and doing some cave diving and experience the true feeling of being in Xibalba for myself.
My school doesn't offer classes or many resources for me to study these interests.  Pacific Northwest Native American tribes are much more important in this area for obvious reasons.  However it is sad that I must study these PNW topics at the whims of my professors because I don't have the financial means to travel or study independently.
Also, I think I am going to nut up and officially sign up for the Museum Studies minor. Le sigh.
I suppose for now, the best thing I can do is muddle through until I have received my degree and hope that life after school is not just a walk straight into my grave.

Bill of girlfriend rights

So I've come upon something that I need to announce to all my friends, and I figure a blog post might be an appropriate medium.
My boyfriend and I have been dating for over a month now.  We're still a new-ish couple, so there are things that are not part of our repitoire of actions.  We are also not a completely conventional couple, so yes, some of these common couple 'rights' are not going to be part of our relationship ever.  A particular range of abilities that I have chosen to not take part in include the following: nagging, hovering, controlling, mothering, smothering, stalking, inappropriate PDA, mooching, and squatting.  For some reason, many of my friends have assumed that because I am his girlfriend I will always know where he's at or what he's doing 24/7.  I do not know where he is all the time, nor do I care enough to know.  If you are a friend that assumes I know where my boyfriend is 24/7 you can stop assuming that right now.  You may ask me if he went to class today, and my answer is 'dunno' because its true.  If he wants to skip every damn class and just sit at home like a bump on a log, fine.  I mean, that sucks for him because that won't work for long... but if that's how it is, so be it.  I'm not his conjoined twin, I'm his girlfriend.  I also do not text or call him every few minutes to say 'where are you?' or 'just thinking about you.'  Not only is it completely silly but there is a level of pointlessness to it, he is terrible at responding to messages (something I can relate to). No, I cannot help you get a hold of him.  What should I do for you? Pull up his coordinates on a GPS from that tracking chip I put in him? You=crazy.  I don't nag. I don't give a flying rat's ass if my boyfriend has the dirtiest home in this entire college town. As long as his mess stays off my stuff, I couldn't care less. So you don't need to complain to me about his living habits in the hopes that I will be able to change him.  If he borrowed your stuff and you want it back, I don't know why you're asking me about it.  Take your problems to him directly, it might be more effective.  A home is a sacred place, sure, but sometimes getting lost in a mess can be comforting.  Hell, you should see my house around finals week, a health inspector would have cardiac arrest on the spot.
There are certain things I want my boyfriend to reciprocate, and he does. I don't want:  nagging, hovering, mooching, or squatting.  These things include knowing where I'm at and who I'm with 24/7. If I don't want it done to me, I choose not to do it to him.  He's a big boy, he can do things on his own without my constant pushing and heckling.  My boyfriend fills certain desires for me and those desires do not include the duties of a maid service, page boy, secretary, or servant.  If you believe him to be one of those things for you, by all means nag the crap out of him; I strongly believe he has never taken up any of these positions with anyone other than his mother.
Now that you may understand these things a little better, you can respect my relationship more effectively. Also, I'm sorry if this upsets you because I'm not talking to you personally, its just that a lot of people have been bugging me about the things my boyfriend does. Hopefully this may help deter any future misunderstandings.

Good show, gents

Eating ice cream, listening to love songs, and writing my blog; could my night get any better? Well yes, but that's not the point.  I want to mention that I had a pretty good time at a bad-ass double birthday party last night. Of course the party guests were all getting a bit booze crazy later in the evening but that's not entirely a bad thing.  You can learn a lot about a person by the way that they act when they are drunk.  As weird as it may sound, I connected with a few of my closest friends on a really deep level thanks to alcohol. I mean, I take the drunk things they say with a grain of salt, but if you read between the lines you can see what they are truly saying to you.
I want to take a little time to give a shout out to my sweetheart of a boyfriend, who even in the throws of a drunken tantrum, he can still take a moment to give me a kiss and tell me how much he cares about me.  I think that is really cool and I think that shows how much I mean to him on a deep level.  I'm always on edge when it comes to saying the right thing at the right time.  I just want to make sure I don't throw "Love" out there at an inappropriate moment, or even worse, when the feeling is not reciprocated.  Moments like that can be either very bonding or very awkward. I try to avoid the awkwardness.  Thankfully, my boyfriend was able to crash through the awkward barrier for us both.  Now if you're a person who knows us both, you may be thinking of a question along the lines of "Now these two started dating a little under a month ago... is it normal to be talking about 'love'?" My answer to you is simple, there are things here that are a long-time brewing over the past several months if not longer. Don't worry, I'm not too crazy here.  I have an appreciation for letting our feelings marinate before serving them for dinner, if you know what I mean. I certainly do not have any history in matters of deep infatuation, so I am being very cautious currently.

1Doz. red strippers--I mean roses.

The conclusion to my lovely Valentine's Day Rose saga ended with a bang.  My admirer finally announced his identity to me after two weeks of leaving mysterious roses on my doorstep.  My announcement after all of this is: I agreed to his proposal to go steady.
At first I was a little weary of this lothario to motion to initiate a serious relationship because we had been spending time together for the past year under the context of keeping our infatuations out of it all.  I mean, I admit it was a bit difficult for me to follow these rules we established.  It's hard not to start up something that is so incredibly fun, and not get caught up in the risks.  So when my willpower failed I would meditate on all the reasons why the rules of engagement are important and I would cleanse myself of any lust or jealousy.  Around the end of January I had made quite a bit of headway with a few other suitors and I really stopped worrying about any woes brought on by my valentine.  When he asked for a serious relationship I was surprised and unsure of what I really wanted, but I knew that this was something I really couldn't walk away from.

After having a couple days to think deeply about what I want to accomplish on a personal level in the next few years, I've decided that because its impossible to see whether the future holds tragedy or fortune all I can do is live in the moment and cheerfully hope that all goes well.  Of course, I don't want to start out making terrible decisions that will obviously end badly, but I don't want to make an instant flip-flop on my current lifestyle (none of us want that culture shock that is often experienced when leaving Karinamania).  I don't know if either of us are really ready to go head first into the cold waters of getting tied down by the relationship red tape; but I also have to weigh in the likely possibility of going down the slippery slope of reckless freedoms.  We all know how fragile the line can be between "I'm okay with this" and "I am deeply hurt by this."  I've got a plan that might be the solution to my problem, but I think I'm going to sleep on it, just in case I haven't thought of all the possible consequences.  I suppose making an informed decision may make or break my success.
I have an honest smile on my face right now, and I can feel a strong glow in my heart, so deep down I think I know I'm experiencing some good things right now. I like this. I am happy.
I also can't avoid giving a shout out to my bestest breast friend forever, Gwen, who got engaged on Valentines Day.  This is so exciting and I don't want to sound really selfish, but I'm going to be a little (and by 'little' I mean 'a lot') bummed out if I don't make the cut for Maid of Honor. This is a life goal I cannot miss my chance for.  I'm already planning the rumble in the jungle bridal shower/bachelorette party. Finally I can have my stripper and eat it too--CAKE! I meant to say cake... dammit.