Shiny

“After eighteen years of mediocrity, I was pretty used to being average.  I realize now that I’d long ago given up on any aspirations of shining at anything.  I just did the best with what I had, never quite fitting into my world.  So this was really different.  I was amazing now – to them and to myself.  It was like I had been born to be a vampire.  The idea made me want to laugh, but it also made me want to sing.  I had found my true place in the world, the place I fit, the place I shined.”

- Bella Cullen in Breaking Dawn

     It seems as if I would never run out of quotes from the Twilight series.  Which just goes to show what a big fan I am.  But quite honestly, I’ve had many bursts of inspiration as I read some lines in the books.  I always try to learn from everything I read and encounter, and I definitely have a lot of insights inspired by my beloved fictional characters.

     Many of us settle for mediocrity.  It is easier somehow, to blend in with the crowd and never try to do something daring or exceptional.    There are no pressures and no unmanageable obstacles.  But the truth of the matter is, more often than not, we are much better than we think ourselves to be.

     We all have potentials, and it is up to us to realize these.  We should never settle for less than what we are capable of.  And we should remember that everything is possible if we believe that it is.

     This quote holds a special meaning for me, especially since I am embarking on a new career move yet again.  I am hoping and praying that this would be the place where I fit.  And hopefully, the place where I would shine.  There would be challenges along the way.  But with God’s grace and the support of the people that I love, I know that I can make it.

 

Homunculus Blues

     James and I have quit playing RO for almost a year, but then the coming of the Renewal Patch sparked my hubby’s interest, and we decided to play again.  Nothing serious as WoE or anything, but we have decided to prepare some characters for renewal.  And a few of these characters happen to belong to the alchemist class – our favorite character class in the game.

     In mine and James’ entire RO playing career, I think we’ve had about nine characters belonging to the said class.  For renewal, we probably would change seven of them to the third class, which is Genetic.  Most of them have a homunculus, and we are currently working on levelling up an amistr, a filir, and a vanilmirth, which explains my post title.

    Levelling up a homunculus, especially a vanilmirth, is a frustrating experience.  You would find yourself getting more and more nervous as level up time approaches.  And when your preferred stats do not get any bonuses, you would want to bash your head into the monitor.  Well, maybe not that severe, but close.

     Selene Celestialle’s vanilmirth is giving me quite a headache.  He’s currently at level 59 and he had no INT growth the past level.  He’s had 3 stagnant levels between 50 – 59 and I do hope that the slump would end soon.  I’d hate to see all the time (not to mention load) spent go to waste if I have to delete him.  It’s a pain really.

     Oh well, at least Nelo’s filir seems to be doing well at level 64.  As for Galadrielle’s amistr, he’s now 95 and I have no intention of deleting him despite his below average stats.  He’s the first ever homunculus I’ve summoned way back in 2005.  deleting him would be sacrilege.

     So I apparently have more anxiety-filled days to look forward to.  I hope it all pays off in the end.  Cheers to all homunculus breeders!~

 

Love Visions: Looking back on a closed chapter

     I was digging through the depths of my hard drive when I found a file that I haven’t opened in over a year.  It was a love story, albeit a virtual one.  And though it is a chapter that has been ended, bound, and sealed, I have this unexplainable compulsion to have a fleeting glimpse of it, and to share that glimpse with all who would like to see.  Yes, I am beyond happy with the chapter I am in right now, in the virtual and in the real world.  But that cannot eradicate the fact that once upon a time, in the virtual world that was Fenrir, there was a fleeting moment wherein the Lord Knight Deirdre Winterflame fell in love with the Mastersmith Hugh Hefner, an affirmation of the feelings that were unfolding in the real world.  This is their story…

 

A Lesson in Synergy

 

    It is said that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When it all comes together; when everything falls into place, when the desired end springs forth, free from all constraints – that is synergy. There are times, however, that even the best of human synergy cannot break through the circumstances forced upon it by the sheer incongruence of fate.

 

One Truly Amazing Race

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.

- Greg Anderson

 

Got Game?

     One thing I wasn’t able to mention in my writer’s introduction: I am a passionate gamer.  For as long as I can remember, I have had a real liking for gaming; from the worlds of Mario, to the moogles of Final Fantasy, the enchanting armors and fairy wings of MU Online, the intriguing personas of World of WarCraft, the realistic characters and terrain of Granado Espada, the challenge and teamplay of Defense of the Ancients, and most of all, the dynamic community of Philippine Ragnarok Online.

 

When the Virtual meets the Real: Memories in Midgard

     Waukster Online, a blog that gives you an inside scoop on Ragnarok Online 2, is giving away rare Ragnarok merchandise like Goblin Figurines and Merchant Saving Boxes! To enter, you just have to write your top 3 Ragnarok moments and this is my entry. 

 

Moon Angel

Lying, thinking

Last Night

How to find my soul a home

Where water is not thirsty

And bread loaf is not stone

I came up with one thing

And I don’t believe I’m wrong

That nobody

But nobody

Can make it out here alone…

 

-excerpt from Maya Angelou’s poem “Alone“

 

 

Finding My Way Home

      “Home is the only place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other.  It is the place of confidence.  It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts.  It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule.”

-  Frederick W. Robertson

 

Echoes of Valor and Chivalry

    

     My name is Deirdre Winterflame.  I am a Lord Knight; just one among so many who have pledged a life to the code of chivalry in the realm of Midgard.  And while my name may bear no essence to many, to me, it is all that I have; in the same way that my story defines all that I am…