barachan.com/blog

for now, josh installed GE on his computer, so i can play it from there :]

only level 14 at the moment, still trying to learn everything and get the hang of the game. i really like it so far, though. there’s surprisingly little lag for it being a beta — well, it is a closed beta, but still. the graphics are gorgeous. the menus aren’t overly confusing. there are plenty of monsters to kill (even though the maps are huge and many are crowded.) leveling areas and monster levels are very clearly labeled so you don’t accidentally wander into some elite place that owns you on the spot. there are quests everywhere, also easily distinguishable by level, and none that i’ve tried so far were way too difficult or tedious for my newbiness. the ability to form your own “family” party makes leveling 378429387423 times less tedious when you don’t have any other players to party up with at the moment (or if you just prefer to solo.)

i suppose one might argue that the game is too easy? but maybe that changes in the later levels; like i said, i still haven’t played much yet. i think it’s refreshing to play an MMO that isn’t ridiculously slow and difficult in the newbie levels.

the only complaint i have is that there’s not much in the way of character customization. the characters are really detailed and gorgeous, and whatever equipment you have on shows up on your character, but other than that, everyone is exactly the same — every female wizard has the same model, every male musketeer has the same model, etc. i really hope this is something they change before the final version.

going to go see ghost rider on friday! oooooh i bet it’s gonna be good.

http://sayael.deviantart.com/journal/11634352/

ahh, it’s so true, i see that attitude from people all the time. it makes me really sad sometimes, how visual art is treated by the general population (in western cultures, at least.) lawyers, doctors, so many other professions pay thousands of dollars to go to school for years to study and prepare for their careers — most artists do the same; why are they not seen in the same light? entertainers and sports players are paid millions of dollars per year; why are artists who work just as hard expected to live in poverty, especially when we live in such a visually-driven society?
our culture still seems to categorize art into either: museum/gallery art, which is worth thousands of dollars and only collected by crazy rich people who have nothing better to spend their money on than decorative fluff they like to come up with hidden meanings for; and everything else, which is just “pictures” and should be free and public domain, even if it’s used on something published for profit. anything “less” than photorealism or abstract is usually also considered to be kid stuff. comics and animation are slowly crawling out of the child and geek niches, but most older people still don’t consider it to be real art yet.

in one of the freelancing books i’ve read, the author mentioned that there is still a lingering ideal that all artists should be “starving artists,” creating their work for the sole sake of self-expression, and charging minimum or no money at all for it, else they’re a commercial sellout — and this is not true at all. as long as you’re proud of what you create, you shouldn’t be afraid of charging what you feel your work is worth to you.

in other news, i fear zoe may have some sort of skin infection. it’s hard for me to inspect the area around her stitch site, but underneath it (nearer the bottom of her stump,) she’s been developing a sore-ish spot where the skin has been rubbed raw, due to being a new source of pressure, and the fur being shaved off. i’ve tried applying vaseline to it daily, as per the vet’s instructions, but i think zoe just washes it off anyway. on thursday, i think i spotted some pus in that area, or something. :I her checkup appointment is scheduled for saturday, so we’ll know for sure then. goddddd, i hope it’s not anything serious. zoe has been through too much already (and so has my bank account.) i’ve been keeping her cage clean, and i’ve been administering her antibiotics every day, so i’m not sure how there’d be much room for a serious infection…

work on my site has been hampered lately by all those computer problems, but i’m slowly making progress. lately, i’ve been fiddling with PHP a bit; i meant to learn it ages ago, but never finished the book i’d started reading about it. well, i finally finished the book, and now i’m playing with a free gallery script i found. having the gallery in a PHP format rather than separate HTML pages should make things a LOT easier on me, and i might even update my site more regularly (gasp!)

…i think my mouse is giving out on me.

i am officially out of hard drive space. i tried to work on my site today, and photoshop wouldn’t open the 60 meg header image file because my scratch disks are full.

i was completely planning on buying an external HD, but then all of the zoe stuff happened, and, well…now i’m broke. :[ i guess as soon as zoe is healed up and we don’t have to worry about any further vet bills, i’ll scratch up whatever money i can get to buy a new HD.