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!