Moo. There, are you happy now?

Well, starting next Monday, I'm going to be going in for training as a customer support rep it seems. Oh joy. Well, it is good news. I'll finally have a job again, and I desperately need one. This just happens to be the perfect one for me. I'll be working for a gaming company, right here in Austin, and the pay isn't half bad. Yeah, sure, it's a grunt level position and I still get paid hourly, but I'm okay with that. I consider that a win in my book. And all I need to do is get a personal mode of transportation, and I won't even be able to complain about how far it is. That won't be hard, actually...I just need to take the initiative to finally take my driving test. Aren't I slacker, eh?

Now the trick is to pay rent on the first, since I probably won't get any paycheck until August 6th. At least, so I hope...the sooner I get money the better, and surely they can't expect to not pay me during their two week training period. If there was ever a time for eBay to pull through for me, now would be it. At least, if I have to, I can beg my parents for a small $200-300 loan, which I could easily payback in a paycheck or two. Of course, nobody wants to do that. And I certainly don't need another stab to my ego or my pride, which are both at record lows.

Anyways, my 10-day trial period for WoW expired yesterday. Yes, I did take a whack at playing World of Warcraft. I figured I should at least do the trial to see if it's really all it's cracked up to be. I can safely say I got myself addicted on the first day and that I want to keep playing. I have friends, (you know who you are *peers*), who have told me that WoW sucks. You know, I only managed to get a character to level 15 during my trial period, so I haven't fully experienced the game, but I don't see how anyone can say that it sucks. It is a very fun MMO to play; not only are the mechanics simple enough to not confuse people , but they're also complex enough to make for very rich and diverse playing styles, and the storyline underneath the mechanics is definitely deep enough that die-hard fans can delve into very deeply (hell, people wrote fanfictions on the original RTS of Warcraft, so uh...I'd say the story is pretty deep).
They even have RolePlay servers if you're into that sort of thing, which greatly shocked me. Of course, I don't think anybody who plays WoW is into that. I mean, I wasn't even level 10 before I heard somebody ask another guy "So what's so great about the RP servers?" I just wanted to bang my head on the desk. At least the option is there, and you get enough material to easily roleplay your character effectively, if you can just find other people intelligent enough to follow through.

Of course...I haven't played any MMO since I stopped playing Runescape back in middle school...so I've been a bit out of the loop I guess. I almost started playing Lineage 2, because it does look great. I've at least looked through MMOs, and I even researched through a bunch intending to start playing precisely one (which, to me, means I have to take my time and choose the one that would best suit my playing style). I never actually went through with getting into any of them, though, partially because I realized I should worry more about money and grades, and partially because I've got one person who demands lots of my attention very convincingly.

Well, I was originally going to play around with an Undead Mage, then I somehow managed to go for Tauren Druid. I don't completely remember why...I think it had something to do with convincing Kitiy to join me in the 10-day trial period, and we thought it would be fun? I'm not sure I recall the details exactly.
But, yes, I have a Tauren Druid named Moonspirit, who I got to level 15...and now I am merely waiting for the free subscription from my employers to continue playing.

I have to say, once I get financially secure in all the things that matter, I intend to dabble into the other MMOs at least a little, to compare and contrast and try to see why some people hate WoW and say that other games are better.
For now, I've had a lot of fun with the Druid class. I honestly didn't research the classes much more than a simple glance at what they can do (well, some were certainly obvious, but you know what I mean), but I've found the Druid to be fun simply because of how versatile it can be. While the Shaman seems to be the true "hybrid" class (wowwiki said this, not me!), and there are other classes that can fulfill more than one role depending on how the player specializes that character, the Druid seems to be a unique hybrid in that he can change roles fairly easily.

I originally wanted to play a spellcaster class, and so that's why I considered Undead Mage. But then I dabbled with my race a bit and came up with the Tauren Druid. Druids can focus on being an offensive spellcaster (like a Mage) if they want, as they do have a branch of skills devoted to that sort of thing. A Druid can also focus on being a defensive healer/buffer (like a Priest) in his party, and has the best healing-over-time spells (again, according to wowwiki). Both kinds of Druids, if they specialize in one or other of those spell-casting paths, can achieve a very special shape-shifting form to enhance those particular abilities. ('Moonkin' for offensive and 'Tree of Life' for defensive)
However, the Druid, as he/she levels up, changes in gameplay, just a little. At level 10 they get the Bear shape-shifting form, which basically turns the Druid into a melee tank (aka Warrior) with an entirely separate set of skills. At level 20, the Druid can acquire a Cat shape-shifting form, which basically turns the Druid into a melee damage specialist (aka Rogue), with yet another entirely separate set of skills.

Now, those of you who play WoW probably already knew that, and those of you who don't play WoW probably don't actually care about that. But, to me, the way the Druid works is very interesting, and very unique when it comes to an RPG class. Party needs a damage dealer, but no Mages or Rogues are available? No problem, I've got spells or I could be a cat! Need a tank? I can be a bear! Need somebody to heal you, but all the Priests are taken? I can do that too!
I can basically fill any role I need to in a party, and can change roles fairly quickly if I have quick reflexes. That...that just impresses me. The only downside I've seen so far is how Druids really need to specialize into one of their roles to be properly effective within that role (and this may cause problems when people are looking for party members, as you can never tell exactly what a Druid is good at), but the Druid can still perform the other roles on a mediocre level if the party needs something in particular.

Oh, by the way, I think I've managed to work my way around the jury duty. It seems if I mail in a particular piece of the summons with my signature on it, I can claim disqualification from the summons as not being a resident of Bexar county, and don't need to show up in person to get it notarized. Seeing as my only method of sending mail is the post office a short bus hop away, I'm hoping that it applies to me, as the jury duty would interrupt my job training, which wouldn't look too wonderful in the eyes of my employers.
I also apparently have 60 days from the day I was supposed to show up, so there's no hurry either.

Anyways...I think you're sick of hearing about me, my new job, and World of Warcraft, so I'll go off to eat some ramen so you can get back to your own much more interesting lives.