Today I decided to revisit Stranglethorn Vale to complete a couple of green quests. I've always had a fondness for the area having spent many levels questing and grinding there. And now at level 44, I was fairly safe from the random gank.

I took a short swim across Grom Gol Base Camp and began stalking Jungle Stalkers. After I finished collecting their feathers, I spotted Tethis, the level 43 elite raptor whom I was supposed to slay. He was tougher than I expected. The first was a close battle, with him making the killing blow before me. The second, his friend came along to help and my Wildvine potion failed me. I limped away with 20% durability loss and headed back to Grom Gol to recuperate.

When I was better, I flew to Booty Bay to hand in a quest. Some chappies gave me another couple and I thought I'd stay in the area to complete them. First off, I headed to the shore to kill some Bloodsail Raiders (and Mages) for 15 snuff some chirpy young goblin wanted in exchange for some silver and goodies. There weren't a lot of them (I didn't know then there were more of them in Wild Shore), but between me, a Tauren dude, and a level 41 human allie, I managed to collect all 15 while also heading north to kill some nagas for silver.

When I returned the quests, I received another quest to slay 10 nagas. That went pretty quickly as I had already collected the water eons ago with Zomb. They drop good silver too!

Then it was off slightly north to slay some elder mistvale gorillas for some quest item. A couple of level 40+ allies were on their mounts but largely ignored me. The gorillas put up a good fight and when I got the quest item, I left. While riding back, I realised I was very near Tethis. I could see him hanging with his buddies at his usual spot.

I'd levelled to 45 since the gorillas and decided I would try him again. This time, I switched the superior healings to my stack and stunned him from behind. I used Cold Blood and one superior healing potion. Toward the end, it was him or me and quickly I stunned him before he could hit me again. I slayed him with about 1/5th health remaining and returned to Nesingwary to claim my prize. And he gave me another quest to kill the lion king. Nah, next time. I hearthed back to Ogrimmar.

Back in Ogrimmar, I put up all my Wildvine potions for sale in the Auction House as well as a few greater healing potions. Rather disappointed that the silver tabby was not on auction, I patted my orange tabby and logged off for the night.

After a very fun and productive day at work, I am now off to dinner with Doreen.

Some highlights of my day:

* Jigging to the Sound of Music at Cold Storage.
* Singing Sound of Music songs in Cold Storage.
* Trying Trillian and loving it.
* Many laughs with colleagues.
* Doreen's funny weird joke about toilet paper.
* Reciting cute stories about my cats to an appreciative audience.
* Buying a $10 UV-protection umbrella from Baleno.
* Testing the umbrella and it passed with flying colours.
* Finding out that we have till the end of the month to file taxes! :D

In the morning I found Boy sleeping by my feet again. :D I felt his tail as I struggled to get up. When he realised I was awake, he walked around and sat by me. A sleep-deprived arm petted him gently before I mustered all my strength and swung myself off the bed.

Fed the kids. Locked the kitchen door so Boy could eat in peace. When he was done, I opened the door and noticed there were a few scraps remaining that Buffy immediately started eating. Tuxie loomed and stared at me. I said, no, let your sister eat. He mrrowed in protest and scurried away.

Boy wandered back and watched Buffy eat his food. I shooed her gently away and Boy began eating again. It seems to be a habit of his to hoard some food for later, but he must have realised it does no good when three scavengers are waiting to pounce on his food. :o He finished it and walked away.

As I went to put on my shoes, I noticed the four older cats sitting around watching me. I blinked to all of them and waved. Boy and Sam stared wide-eyed. They looked so cute. :D I felt as if I was receiving a mommy's send-off.

I've decided to cross-post new entries of Five Cats Blog here too.



Sam Asserts Himself and Boy Gets Blinky

Lately Sam's been hassling everyone, particularly Buffy and Boy. Poor Buffy'd get chased and Boy paw-swatted. He even took over Boy's fave perch outside the bathroom. I was surprised that Boy let him. Either Sam's the new boss in town or Boy's just being a gentleman.

This eve, Boy, after being bullied by Sam and after the kids got locked up, allowed me (after running a while) to carry him and bring him back to the bedroom. I carried and petted him for quite a time and rolled him over to between his Dad and I. He leapt off shortly after and sniffed his empty water bowl.

As usual, I told him to wait, and he sat patiently as I filled it up in the bathroom and laid it down for him to drink. And he lapped for a long time. He must have been really thirsty. Then he went off to the study to sleep.

I followed him, rather disturbed, and unable to sleep. He sat by the couchhead as I turned on the computer and slowly blinked. I blinked back. And for a good 5-10 minutes we were blinking at each other slowly and endearingly. :) It was lovely.

Even now, 2 hours later, he is lying on the couch, sucking his arm (or it appeared as if he was) and then blinking back at me again after his nap. :D

In this murky haze of insomnia - actually a rather alert one I might correct - I have decided to finally consolidate my blogs into one. Prior to this, I had a poetry blog, a personal blog, and an art blog. Of course, the cats still retain their own blog, although I will also very frequently refer to them here with great affection. :)

I haven't blogged in a while, and with my Meph identity becoming more and more prevalent in WoW, it seemed to make sense to bring it all together. It was like picking a major: go through course book and tick all the courses I want to take. Add credits up. Voila, major. Now Meph had 3 credits in poetry, art, and WoW. That must take the cake. For now. It'd be a hassle to rebrand myself...

Identity is a funny thing. You search for it all your life and each time it fits for a time and then another more fitting one comes along and you replace it. But that's how we are I guess, dynamic, ever-changing human entities. Life is all about change. It's how we evolve. The dinosaurs have shown, at least in Michael Crichton's view, that the failure to adapt can kill you.

Even BlogDrive has changed since the last time I blogged. Nifty image uploading too! Way cool. I will try that soon. In short, change is nice, as long as we're still alive to enjoy it.

So here I am, back to the skin I feel most comfortable in: the poet, the artist, the cat-parent, and the undead rogue. Oh yes, and muser.