Padd Solutions

I just emailed Congress to urge them to oppose the Internet Blacklist Legislation, known as the PROTECT-IP Act in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House. This legislation seeks to give the executive branch power to conduct slash-and-burn campaigns against websites that allegedly host – or even link to – content that infringes on intellectual property rights. That would “disappear” whole domain names, fundamentally undermining Internet security, and/or choke off their financial support. The Internet Blacklist Legislation puts more sites than ever at risk, effectively upending the DMCA safe harbors that have been crucial to the growth of Internet innovation and creativity.
Sadly, these short-sighted and dangerous bills won’t do much to stop online infringement – but they will jeopardize our ability to speak and read online with the kind of freedom we cherish in the offline world. Deep-pocketed Hollywood lobbyists are aggressively pushing to control and censor the open Internet, willing to sacrifice free speech and our Internet culture in hopes of controlling how people view their movies and products.
We need to stop this bill before it goes any further. Will you contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to oppose the Internet Blacklist Legislation? Visit:

Yeah I can admit it.  I just work now.  XBox tech support has eaten up my life!  The Kinect launch was crazy, I worked like 65 hours a week.  The overtime was kickass tho.

I wish I could give detailed stories about being an Xbox tech support agent.  The job is mostly cool, chill ppl who game.  But there is this dark part, that small percentage of women who are the unfortunate mothers of 13 year old boys who have access to credit card information.  They make my blood run cold.  Yes, I have heard perfectly sane women say things like, "Xbox is stealing my CC information, not my darling child who would never, EVER do that without my permission."  Yes lady, an xbox agent broke into your home and stole your CC information to character assassinate your dear boy.  Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight....

It seems an old image of mine has resurfaced again.  The thread is in SRF somewhere, but here is the original image.  LINK  I made that for my BFF and it just keeps popping back up in the strangest places.  lol

I also got a chance to beta test a game called Rift.  It was OK I guess.  They call it some revolutionary game design but I didnt really see it.  The PVP was less than satisfying and really, that is always the most fun part of any game.  I thought the skills were pretty sluggish feeling and they had a universal cooldown which is always a bummer.  I hate waiting for skills to recharge.

Still waiting for TERA and GW2 to come out so I can test drive them, I have high hopes!  Forsaken World kinda sucked and Rift says it is going P2P.  Really, in order for that to work, it would have to significantly change.

Other than that, there isnt much going on.  Work and more work.  ^^

If you are interested in working an awesome job from the comfort of your home, rescuing troubled gamers, just leave me a comment and Ill give you all the information you might need to get started.  I searched for a long time for this job and Id be happy to share it with other gamers.

I am a naughty, naughty blogger....  I have been way too busy!  You want to know the worst of it?  I have a job now.  *ducks*  Yeah, I know, the perennial gamer chick has capitulated and gotten a real job.  But it is a gamer girl job!  No really, Im working at home doing tech support for XBox Live.  No, you can't call me.

Also, Fly and I are quitting Aion and going off to a new game.  It's not so much that Aion really has any problems, it's that Aion's makers have decided that their game would be more successful as a PVE oriented game and not a PVP oriented one.  They killed rifting by giving the a buff against rifters, they added a new system that you can only meet up with the other faction under special circumstances, they increased the requirements for AP items but reduced the opportunities for earning AP and made medals untradeable.  Almost all 1 v. 1 encounters (and they are rare) are won or lost based on RMT (para proc, who jumps who first) or gear based with it being, if you have good gear you can faceroll 90% of the population and the other 10% just based on chance.   Here is the last shot of my char.  T__T



But instead of concentrating on this past, Im gonna talk about the future.  First, we are really looking forward to playing Guild Wars 2.  While no one really knows when this is going to be released, pre-orders have just recently gone on sale on sites like Amazon and Game Stop.  A lot of the Aion Avalon group is going to be playing this.  Also, we are going to try TERA but unfortunately there is no real ETA for this one other than next year some time.

Between now and then we are going to be playing Forsaken World.  Here are some facts:


If you are interested in playing, we have a pretty comprehensive informational post on our guild forum.  You can go to the game site and sign up for beta testing, I havent heard of anyone getting denied so far.  Ill probably post a bit more often cause I am in between games atm.  ^^

Mount Erie, WA

Oh, a lot has been going on but I just havent had the oomph to do much blogging lately. So here is a basic rundown of what's been up.

I got a job. OMG!  It's just part time and it started out just because my vaccume cleaner broke and I wanted a really expensive new one. But the job is OK, I think ill keep it for a bit.

I've been going outside. WTF? It totally goes against everything I stand for as a gamer, but yeah, there have been some great outdoor adventures. You can check out my latest adventures here on my flickr account.  All of the recent ones are from Mount Erie on the island next to mine, Fidalgo.  It was a nice day hike and the view was kickass.  RL has the best graphics...

I discovered Squiby.  It's annoyingly fun.  I have always liked those little adoptable websites where you level up some little creature through forum clicks but this one is the mother of them all because its not one artist creating lots of adoptables, its thousands of them.  Most aren't that nice looking but a lot of them are awesome just cause they are all different and unique looking.

I don't really watch much TV anymore except True Blood and First 48.  Now that ninjavideo is gone, I do my watching on icefilms.com.  I have even chitchatted on the little chat in there a couple times cause I was bored.  Speaking of True Blood, if you watch it, tell me, was that sex scene where the chick got her head turned around backwards a bit over the top?  I read all the books and that DEFINITELY wasn't in there.  I'm not saying it shouldn't have been, it was just "dot dot dot" for me.

I'm still playing Aion.  They merged a bunch of servers together which seemed cool at first cause there would be more people to play with but they didn't really take into account balance when they did it.  Now Aion has two Elyos dominated servers, one kinda balanced one and one Asmo dominated server.  Doesn't sound too bad until you factor in the free server switching.  Yes, free.  So you are getting roflpwn'd on your server?  Go to one where your faction dominates!  Instead of being a little out of balance, now they are wildly out of whack.  On New Vaizel Eloys are outnumbered 5 to 1.  The good part?  Dredge pops instantly, dailies aren't really a problem and LFG is always full of people talking (OK, QQing, but who's counting).

Oh and on a side note, I got this coupon code from artscow.com for a free mouse pad.  Mine was old and shabby so I made one.  I got it in the mail on Saturday and it's kickass.  I also sent one to Fly cause the 2nd one was only $1.99.   I <3 being able to make stuff like this and artscow.com is massive, you can make all kinds of things.  You should check it out and no, this isn't a paid endorsement, I just like the site.  Pictured left is the actual image of the mouse pad I made.  The screenshot I used for my pad is an old one from taking artifacts long before merge.  Good times!

I have to admit something to put this post in perspective.  I haven't bought a single CD or song in over 5 years.  Yes it's true.  I'm not going to admit to anything here, just keep that in mind.  It's not that I don't think most musicians deserve the money, I guess some of them do, its just that most music isn't that good or it's managed by corporate dildos like WMG who block half of Youtube in a misguided effort to keep me from hearing the sounds their artists make.  I oblige them and don't listen.  That's my story and Im sticking to it.

But then I accidentally stumbled upon Auto Tune The News.  Funny, funny, FUNNY.  At first it was funny cause they are making stupid politicians sound amazing.  But then the tunes themselves kinda grew on me.  I even tracked them down on AmieSt and bought one of their songs.




Yeah, it's addicting and there are 11 of them. You can plainly see the progression as they get better at the sound (The green screen needs work, I love you guys, but really...) going from ATTN #1 through ATTN #11 (shown above).  You kinda have to watch the whole series cause there are running jokes through them all like the badly treated gorilla suit and a fascination with charts.  I even bought the song called "Space People From the Future" because I found myself singing it when I was bored, at a stoplight or listening to my mother on the phone.  Just kidding, I love you Mom.  It's insidious.

If you want to learn more about these guys, cause really I think they deserve the backlink, check them out at The Gregory Brothers website.  And don't pirate their music cause if you're gonna stick it to someone, stick it to the man, not the victims of Space People from the Future.  That is just wrong.

I think that we made the correct leap of faith, leaving Silkroad Online before that ship sunk completely and swimming over to the little tropical island of NCSoft's Aion. Avalon the legion is huge. We lead the Elyos in Abyss points and size and even if we weren't huge, the game would still be incredibly fun. I have leveled to 27 and been rifting, in the Abyss, done my first instance ever and been in Vent with 50 ppl.

While Silkroad Online wasnt my first MMO, it was close and it was the one I played the longest. I also experienced a lot of "firsts" in SRO. My first guild, made my first movie, made my first game site etc. The quest to recapture that first feeling is impossible. I have tried so many new games over the last 5 years, but after a week or so, the urge to play kinda dwindles and I ended back in SRO.

But Aion has been different. I havent even thought about SRO. I have made movies in Aion, written guides and read page after wiki page of information. I havent been this enthusiastic about a game since the 60 cap on silkroad Online. This game really has everything. I tried my first real instance where our group killed a raid boss and got a rare drop. I dyed my armor blood red to match my cape.  I climbed mountains like we did in the old days of SRO.  I PVPed for hours and hours in the enemy lands.  I have made so many new firsts and the game isnt even live yet!  So much of the fun of gaming had been drained out of SRO that I'd lost my grip on why we play at all.  SRO was about proving a point and die trying.  Aion is just pure fun.

A few former SRO people have followed me over and tried to bother me.  lol  I should take some screens and post them but I never remember to cause they always seem to bug me when I'm doing other things.  I hope that more SRO people leave that dead end game and come to Aion.   Even in SRO you cant have a guild the size of our Legion.  All are hardcore PVPers from other games like WOW and Warhammer.  New people are everywhere.  The game is beautiful and that really helps. Come join me on AionArena and check out Aion.

It's been both boring and eventful lately. My cat got her first shots. She was a brave kitten and didnt bite or scratch ANYONE. I was impressed. My once Silkroad Online website is now completely devoted to Aion Online. That involved a lot of deleting (which I must say was TOTALLY difficult). I still have a lot of SRO resources that are up for grabs like a complete Wiki and all my silkroad renders and images Ive collected over the years (image kits). I'm not ever going back to SRO. I dont have it on my comp, I only saved a handful of screenshots. Its like getting a divorce. SRO and I have been together for 5 years but we've lose that lovin' feeling and it's gone... gone... gone... whoaoaoaoaoaw. (If you dont get it, watch this video)

We have organized a donation drive at Aion Arena. We used our first bunch of donations to get a Signature Generator. It's super easy to use and takes absolutely no skills at all. You can just generate text, drag and drop it where you want it on the backgrounds. There are 115 backgrounds and growing so everyone should be able to find something they like. Not everyone can make their own graphics so this is good for them.

I also made a new flash for the main page of the webiste. It has a story behind it too. I made one and didnt like it at all. It was my graphics and even I thought they were hideous but I had a creative drought. So I asked Fly about flashes or sites that he liked and after a few minutes of him sending me sites, he found some article about website trends. The number one trend is embossed lettering. So I read the whole article, noticing that big text and plain backgrounds are also a nice trend. I go online and look for a tutorial on how to make that embossed lettering. I find one, make the panels for my flash and get it up. The first thing that Cruor says, "It looks like the CS4 icons." I go and look at them and yeah, they do. MUTHAF****A! I dont care though, I like the flash and it's staying. ^^ Damn Adobe and their trend setting icons!!!

So we are all still sitting around starting at eachother, waiting for Aion to start back up again. It does so on the 6th of September. See ya on the Triniel server!

Here is a recent pic of Ferocia.... I took it about 5 minutes ago. I've compiled a complete web album of pics of her.

I recently had a couple of RL new additions to my household. Cuteness first. This is my cat, Ferocia.
I love her. This is the story. I have been petless for many years. I moved into a condo and I didnt want to have the hassle of more pets since I had recently had a cat hit by a car. Years pass... about 8 or so. Then my teenage daughter brings home this little charmer. At first I am like NO WAY. NO CATS. I vow to take her to the pound the next day cause she is too small to toss out. That evening, we play with the kitten and then she leaps up on me, curls up in the crook of my arm and starts purring. Oh... Who can resist that? Not only does she purr and is a load of fun when she is awake, I think dont think Fly would have let me live it down if I had gotten rid of her anyways.

The second new addition is my new Alienware computer. It was hard to take a pic of cause its under my desk (dont look at the dust, I mean who dusts under desks anyways!). Its big. I tried to get the cat to sit in front of it so you can kinda see the scale but she is contrary. I mean, her name is Ferocia.
So now I can play Aion without lagging. Im not gonna say how much I paid for it but let me assure you, the cat is WAY cheaper, even after the vet visit and the carpet covered cat mansion. (If I was a cat, Id want one) The comp's details are on my xfire page, so if you are that kind of curious, you can go there and take a look. I logged on SRO yesterday to see what the game looked like with full graphics on my new 24 inch full HD monitor. WOW The difference is like night and day. I dont miss Silkroad. That game is full of morons. lol Except the 10 remaining legits that is.

Well hey, see you in Aion.

So I have always been a chronic reader/writer. Its kinda in my blood. I really like it. Strangely enough, I don't like typing in game, go figure. I enjoy writing epic posts, guides, wiki articles, this blog, twitters and use several other media outlets too numerous to list. Well, when making my rounds trying to entice new players to the Venus server (have I mentioned my Come2Venus site?)I came across a site I have always visited on and off, mmorpg.com. I think I signed up in 2006, way back when I was bored and looking for new free MMOs to try out. It was a nice site and I subscribed to their Silkroad Online news feed. SRO isn't a massively written about game, so I didn't get much from it but enough to keep me visiting.

So, while I was putting out the honey pots for potential legits at the mmorpg.com forum, I noticed that they were looking for Game Correspondents. I had to stop and think about it. Could I manage to do whatever it was they wanted and still have time to blog, game, twit and rl? Hmmmmm.... YES! So I sent in an article. Unfortunately that was the same week that there was some big gamer nerd convention and my little article wasn't the all important light bringer in it's shadow. I kinda lost track of that venture until I got an email saying... dun dun DUN! I was published and became the official MMORPG.com's Silkroad Game Correspondent. WOOOOOOOOOOOO!


I know, its not that major... I'm still a little thrilled tho cause I am always looking for ways to encourage people to be legit. I refuse to write any articles about bots, or lag, or crowded servers. I want to focus on the positive things about this game cause I still love it and think its worth playing. So if I slow down on my blog writing, you will know why. Each article is like 1500 words long, so it's not just jotting down my thoughts! Thanks for all the support Ive gotten from the Confederation, if it weren't for them, I wouldn't have that much to write about.