Yes, it's time that Garalia returned to the game and sneaked past you whilst you were dealing with load lag in Dalaran with a sneaky /hug on the run

For those that have been following the saga of my long trek to a music degree - studying part-time whilst juggling the demands of a job and a family - you will know that I've been heads down working on the end-of-year essay for this year's studies. Yes, I know that the normal academic year runs from Sept - July, but since I'm part time, my year runs Feb - Oct!

Well, the essay is done, and posted off to the powers that be. All I can do is sit back and wait for the examiners to pick apart my arguments, fault my logic, and show where I've failed to grasp the content of this year's module (I am joking somewhat, but these are the kind of insecurities that the long-distance student faces once the essay is posted). This means that I am now available again on my usual raiding nights, and will be online more often.

Tonight the Lemmings (and friends) went for a little fun run into old territory some have never had a chance to see.

The first in a new series of fun runs was to the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, which only took about 20 minutes, followed by a run through the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj.

(Almost) Everybody in the raid ended up with a bug mount from the trash. I'll leave it up to you to figure out who didn't from the screenshots

The next run will be to Gruul and Magtheridon's Lairs. I'm trying to work out suitable dates that don't collide with other plans, so watch this space!

I just have to share my latest personal news...

Following my exams in October, I've received my results back. I'm absolutely delighted with them, as I've got a distinction (highest result possible) for the second year running!

This also means that I'm now (well, in a couple of weeks once the qualification is confered) entitled to letters after my name - in this case DipMus(Open) - meaning that I have a Diploma in Music from an internationally recognised institution! I am so excited!!!

*huge huggles*

Garv

Garvael can now craft every trainable glyph in the game right now - whisper to place your orders folks!

Yes, yesterday Garvael and a team of other intrepid part-time students descended upon the dreaded exam hall. The attunement questline had been very long and difficult, but we were all hopeful of downing a few of the evil bosses and getting some epic loot at the end...!

So, yes, I've sat my final music exam of the year. I think I've done OK, but I now need to wait until December before my mark comes back. It might seem like a long time, but there's a lot of discussions and statistics involved in coming out with the final grades, so it's actually not too bad.

Now all I need to do is start some of the background reading for the next module (which starts in Feb!), and I'll be fine. As for epic loot, well I should have my Diploma soon

Feels good to have that behind me!

*hugs*

Garv

Monday night, and the Lemmings assemble outside Karazhan for the second part of the run. And what a run it was!

Three new time records set on boss kills, six boss events taken in all (Illhoof, Aran, Chess, Prince, Nightbane, and Maiden), 13 badges, and no wipes!

Special mentions for this night's run have to go to:

Malakai and Naritha for seeing how the Lemmings run the top half of the instance;
Garyx for picking up a lot of off-spec gear (I think 5 epics was the final count? );
Blackmamba for the body-pull on Aran (just as tactics were about to be explained, and we still one-shotted him);
Mac for demonstrating a shortcut down to the Library;
Sheebah and Anharyd for thinking Mac's shortcut was safe (*splat*.... *splat* *splat* );
and Prince for not dropping too many infernals in awkward places.

If runs continue to be this much fun, I'll have to soundproof the spare room - my wife was complaining that I was laughing too much!

The mists swirled as the ship carrying the Lemmings drew into Theramore. The harbour's archers were engaged in deadly combat with Tethyr, the monster of the deep...

Yep, last night we headed into the much-neglected Dustwallow Marsh for a little bit of old-world fun. Some Lemmings had visited the area since the goblins had established a foothold at Mudsprocket, and were able to travel to our meeting point in comfort and safety. Others had to resort to the old triathlon event - running, swimming and riding - to get to Onyxia's lair.

It's taken a bit of grinding, but Garalia is now Exalted with the Aldor. This now means her shoulders have more +heal and +mp5, but more importantly for everyone else, she can now craft Golden Spellthread.

Thanks to everyone who helped out, either with help on the Marks and Armaments, tips on grinding, or simply by not telling me to shut up when I whined about how many more thousand rep I had to go!

Now, HH to revered is her next target. Here come the Ramps runs!

Another day at work, another blog to write

Some of you might have seen me sneaking around doing the daily quests at odd times of the day or night. In fact, the most recent round of dailies saw me being the sole lemming online.

Don't worry - I've not been hacked, or hired myself out to teh gold farmers. I've just been ill this past week, and have been sleeping at unusual times (like 20 hours out of the day at worst!). It has brought me online at quieter times to do the dailies, which is somehow more relaxing, but the absence of chatter in /g is too big a price to pay for me to settle into the nightshift.

April 16th, and the Lemmings file into Deadwind Pass for what has become the weekly ritual...

This week though, there's something different about the group. There's no Warriors!!!

Yes, tonight we went to Kara with a truly non-standard group:

3 Pallies (2 tanking, 1 healing)
2 Druids (1 dps, 1 hybrid)
2 Rogues (no healing here!)
1 Mage
1 Hunter
1 Priest (me!)

I have to admit that my eyebrows went up and down a few times as the group formed and we zoned in. Would so many pallies make for many Divine Interventions?

Actually, it was a very, very smooth run. 4 bosses downed (Moroes, Opera(R+J), Curator and Attumen in that order), no wipes, no mage sacrifices, and only a couple of people dieing throughout the night (yes, I was one - it's a tradition after all!).

After a couple of trash kills last night in Kara, I finally popped over the 12k rep needed for Revered with Violet Eye. Thanks to everyone for the fun raid - everything seemed to go quite smoothly, even with a couple of false starts and me adding to my noob of the month score

So now Garalia needs to start thinking about new shoes, bracers, and a nice hat...

The shopping list is
Whitemend Hood (I have the Mooncloth, just need to grind out primals and nether)
Swiftheal Wraps (no idea of mats on that one)
Lightwoven Slippers (Setthek Halls ahoy!)

If anyone in-guild can make either the hood or the wraps, let me know and I'll send the mats your way.

Now to see if I can swap some playing days around to see some Curator and Prince kills

OK, I deserve the noob of the month hat.

It seems that since patch *cough* Fear Ward was expanded to include races other than Dorf, and silly me didn't read the patch notes properly. Come Nightbane where Fear Ward helps a LOT, I get told to keep Fear Ward on MT, to which I reply "but I'm not a dorf!"

Oops! :blush:

Well, it's a couple of days since I got the invite into the guild, so I figured I'd better say a little about myself and my characters.