Because it's not yet hot enough....

You can take that as you will, but it's Midsummer once again. It always brings me back to when I was just starting WoW (two years ago, can you imagine?), running Cucchiaio through Sentinel Hill and seeing the little red huts and the festival pole. Back then, there were no achievements and I really didn't know anything about holidays, so I just did the ones I came across while leveling (in Redridge and Duskwood) and that was about it.

This year is very much the opposite. I was poised and ready for Midsummer because it's my last holiday for the meta. Mouse has been asking, "So, you're done forever then? Like no more holidays ever, right?" There are some Brewfest costumes I want, etc etc. But, the point is that when I logged in on Monday this week I was all about honoring and desecrating flames. Rabidly so. Which is exactly why this is the week that a tornado comes, uprooting my power for a whole night (I was lucky, some people still don't have power).

I did this holiday last year on Cucchiaio. Like, all of it. Save for the torching tossing because, for the life of me, I couldn't do it. Anything that requires being coordinated I fail at (starting to get why I don't like first person shooters?).

Anyway, after a ridiculously long time and a lot of grief, plus some frantic whispering to Nevarcien about how to toss and catch and why-isn't-it-working, I got it. I finally got it.

Also, don't let Blizzard fool you; that's a pink proto drake.

Children's Week, Or Why You're Not Allowed to Adopt a Child of Your Own

I like the message behind World of Warcraft's Children's Week: show the orphans and refugees from war around Azeroth to inspire them and help them in their dreams to become great adventurers like you or their parents (who coincidentally died adventuring). So, you take your little orphan to all the things they want to see, a spooky lighthouse, the Dark Portal, Jaina Proudmoore..(What I truly think is precious is that when you get to your orphan's idol, they're usually too shy to ask for an autograph themselves. Really sweet.)

When I got little Dornaa in Shattrath, all I wanted was to keep her. She was so cute, she had sweet little curious things to say. Being a Draenei also made Mitter want to keep her all the more. She even began to question her life as an adventurer, and wonder if, perhaps, she too should settle down soon. But then, here is this little Draenei child, without a family. Rather than procreate, shouldn't Mitter adopt this little girl? And raise her to be a priest? Or a hunter? (Anything but a paladin, really.)

It turns out that as geared-out max-level characters, we're not equipped to handle the rigors of raising a child. Certain things, like eating a ton of sweet in front of them, is just poor manners, where as things like the Hard Knocks achievement, are downright dangerous and negligent. (Although, I happen to think that out of all the classes, a priest is probably the safest one to leave a child with, except for a shadow priest. That's just scary right there.) Were I one of the matrons, I wouldn't lend out one of my charges to a death knight, for instance. Sworn to the Alliance or not, you still worked for the Lich King for a time. You deal out plagues and diseases, not exactly the kind of environment I see fit for a child.

Overall, I think the achievements for this holiday are far easier than most, with the exception of School of Hard Knocks, the PVP one. It's also the one that questions Mitter's parental potential the most. In order to get School of Hard Knocks, you must:

1. Capture the flag in Eye of the Storm
2. Assault a flag in Arathi Basin
3. Assault a tower in Alterac Valley
4. Return fallen flag in Warsong Gulch.

I made the mistake of doing these on the first day. So, Eye of the Storm was by far the hardest. I always avoid assaulting/capturing in BGs, so I really don't know even where to turn most of this stuff in at. When EoS started, all of the Alliance booked it to the flag. One person would get it, and half of the Alliance team would loiter around the flag spawn until the Horde capped everything. I did this with Mouse and a couple other guildies. Mouse hates achievements, and he hated this one far more than the others. I actually can't believe I finally got it, during the third EoS.

Arathi was easy, just needed to be fast, which I am when doing these achievements, like my own personal Crusader Aura. I anticipated Warsong Gulch being hard, too, with half the team loitering around the Alliance flag spawn. A Horde rogue entered and NO ONE touched her. Kindly, she picked up and dropped the flag repeatedly. I hadn't even thought of it! So, I went over to Horde side, waved, and did the same. This is truly the funniest thing I've ever seen.

It took two tries in Alterac Valley, but I finally got it. :D