What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been

[Warning: EXTREMELY long WoW-related post ahead]

When achievements first came out in WoW, I looked at this achievement as something only a hardcore player would do. Not only does it take a year to achieve, it requires the player to perform a variety of tasks that range from easy to mind-numbingly repetitive to downright infuriating. AND you generally only have a week or two during which to do those tasks. AND every other player in the server is going after the same thing at the same time. For the uninitiated, WoW has in-game holidays that mirror real life holidays, such as Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc. For each holiday, there are holiday specific achievements and one meta-achievement (which means an achievement for completing the achievements). And there’s also What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been, which is the meta-achievement for completing all of the meta-achievements of all the holidays. There are 8 holidays that are required for What a Long, Strange Trip it’s Been, and all together those meta-achievements add up to around 70 achievements. So in a nutshell, we’re talking about completing over 70 achievements throughout the year, but only during specific times of the year. WHY on earth bother to do this, you ask? The reward for completing What a Long, Strange Trip it’s Been is the Violet Proto-Drake, a flying mount that flies 310% faster than the normal speed. It’s the fastest mount in the game, a step ahead of the lowly 280% mounts. So there’s that…

I didn’t have much desire to attempt this when it came out, since I was still leveling up and I had never really participated in holidays and dear god that sounded like A LOT of work. But a little less than a year later my character was finally 80 and the first holiday during which she would be 80 was coming up (coincidentally, because of the timing of when the achievements came out, this was also the holiday during which players would be able to complete their long, strange trips and get their mounts…so maybe I was slightly influenced by all the shiny new purple dragons flying around, is what I’m saying).

And so I decided to venture into what still seemed to me to be a mad endeavor. I started hesitantly at first, telling myself I was just doing the holiday achievements for fun…but as one holiday after another came around I started to notice that I was getting increasingly more and more worried about completing each holiday’s achievements. I still looked forward to the holidays coming up, but I was also FREAKING OUT during each holiday. When the last holiday finally came around, I breathed a huge sigh of relief but I was so done with stressing out that when I got my Violet Proto-Drake, it was slightly anti-climactic…I probably said “good riddance” more so than “woot!.”

Well now I get to relive my year-long accomplishments and sincerely agree with The Grateful Dead: it was a long, strange trip. In order of appearance:

Brewfest

The one that started it all, an homage to Oktoberfest, complete with beer, beer goggles, pink elephants, rowdy drunken dwarves, and racing rams (which I don’t believe are featured in the real event…).

Most fun achievement: Down with The Dark Iron. You have to defend your festival (and most importantly, the beer!) from a pack of meddlesome dwarves that spring out of the ground like moles. Best part? The only weapon you seem to have are full beer mugs, so you chug and hurl the mugs at their heads, and get increasingly drunk as you do so.

The beginning of the grind: right out of the gate, this holiday has one of the more grindier requirements. You need to collect about 400 tokens to complete some achievements, and you get those by completing daily quests. No, you don’t get all 400 in one day, silly…then there’d be no point in doing them every day, now would there?

What eluded me: the holiday boss drops not one, but two unique mount models. Have I ever seen one drop? Not a chance. Did I group with someone who happily relayed that they won both in one day? :(

Hallow’s End

WoW’s Halloween, the fare is pretty standard, there are costumes, you go trick or treating to the different villages, eat candy, kill the Headless Horseman…that last one isn’t standard, is it?

Most fun achievement: also the best title for an achievement, Bring Me The Head of…Oh, Wait. Out of all the holiday boss fights, I adore the Headless Horseman fight the best. The setting is awesome (haunted graveyard), the voice acting is fantastic, and the fight mechanic is so much fun (he flings his pumpkin head at you as a distraction and during his last dying moments summons a pack of pumpkins to give you the hurt).

Most stressful moment: you’ll hear PLENTY about the abomination that is the random number generator for this holiday. Part of the meta is to loot a pumpkin pet and a pumpkin hat…which are random drops…which might not drop during the entire event…which has happened to people…talk about a sigh of relief when I finally got that darn hat.

What eluded me: I saw the Headless Horseman’s mount drop once during the entire holiday. Rock’s character actually tied during the roll but lost the tie-breaker. In the two years I’ve done this holiday, that is the only time I’ve seen it.

Winter Veil

It’s a goblin sponsored Christmas! I love this holiday because it really does put you in the Christmas mood. There’s actually no holiday boss for this one but there is a quest line to save Metzen the Reindeer (named after one of Blizzard’s creative team members).

Most fun achievement: With a Little Helper from My Friends. A lot of people stress out over the PvP achievements (and rightfully so if they’ve never done it or just don’t like it), but the sight of a pack of winter gnomes assembling for battle makes this achievement completely worthwhile.

It’s a merry Christmas: I love, love, love that you get to open presents under the tree on Christmas morning. The sight of all those players up early amassing under the tree is too funny, and SO Christmas!

What eluded me: actually, I managed to get all the pets on my main character (I pilfered pets from my alts).

Love is in the Air

I like this holiday so much I dedicated a whole post to it . This is easier than rewriting stuff here :)

Most fun achievement: first of all, the entire holiday is a vast improvement over what it used to be, and a lot of fun all around. But, that said, there isn’t one achievement that really sticks out as being the best. Dangerous Love would come close because the boss fight at the end of the quest line is my second most favorite boss fight.

Inspiration: for one achievement, you have to share a romantic picnic basket with someone and find true love. The image of Rock’s and my character sitting under the umbrella with hearts above their heads was so cute it became my wedding invitation.

What eluded me: the new boss fight also comes with the chance of looting a big rocket mount (complete with zebra-striped seats!). Alas, I did not see a mount drop the entire time. The Rocket is a Lie.

Lunar Festival

One of the less traditional WoW holidays taken from real life, this is a reference to the Chinese New Year. I’m not very familiar with the actual Chinese holiday but I believe some of the similarities are honoring the elders, fireworks, and gifts contained in red envelopes. But my ignorance is showing so, moving on…

Most fun achievement: eh, I’m pretty neutral on this holiday because on the one hand, it is incredibly time consuming since you have to visit a ton of elders located all over the world; but, on the other hand, all of the achievements are very easy and the entire holiday is the least stressful one. Plus, it was relatively fun to watch ANTM reruns while flying from one elder to another.

Most interesting and least interesting boss: the holiday boss for this event is the only boss actually located in the world (as opposed to inside an instance), and it requires around 10 players to kill easily, and it doesn’t matter what faction the players are (everyone gets credit). So it is very neat to see a bunch of players, of all levels and of either faction, gather around to kill him. Sadly, he doesn’t drop anything remotely interesting, that I’m aware of.

Noblegarden

WoW’s version of Easter, complete with bunnies (oh, so cute, bunnehs!), colored easter eggs, chocolate eggs, and flowers everywhere.

Most fun achievement: Spring Fling. Even bunnies are looking for love in WoW. If you park your pet bunny next to someone else’s bunny, they’ll fall in love, and little eggs pop up that hatch into baby bunnies!

Second most dreaded achievement: during the holiday you need to collect about 350 or so chocolates (I forget the number) in order to complete the other achievements. You get chocolates by finding hidden easter eggs in four specific towns…where every other player in the world is also trying to get 350 or so chocolates…my plan B, if I didn’t get the chocolates during my normal playing hours, was to wake up at 3 am…thankfully, it didn’t come to that.

What eluded me: another holiday with no boss :(

Children’s Week

Here we go. This is THE holiday most hated by the WoW community. See where it says “second most dreaded achievement” in Noblegarden? This is where you’ll see “the number one most dreaded achievement” that I also wish I could take out back and shoot in the head. But, besides that, I don’t dislike this holiday in general. I don’t think there is a real world counterpart to adopting a war orphan for a week and training him in the finer aspects of military life, including killing your enemies, touring dangerous locations, and killing deposed kings.

Most fun achievement: Aw, Isn’t It Cute? is doubly fun in that you get to do a neat quest line and get a neat pet as a reward. The quest line involves taking three orphans out for some sightseeing (like a Big Brother, Big Sister kind of thing). The reactions from the NPC’s involved and the orphans are very, very cute and more than a little heart-warming :)

The MOST dreaded achievement: people have written EXTENSIVELY about the pain that is School of Hard Knocks. The PvP achievements required would be easy enough to do as they are a main component of the mechanics for that particular battleground, were it not for the horde of other players that are out to simply kill you (the enemy faction) or to diabolically impede your progress (your own f-ing team!). This achievement really does bring out the worst in people, from griefers who are there to purposely make other people miserable, to the regular players who are just there to get their damn achievement regardless of what it takes and how many teammates they have to screw over to do it. It turns battlegrounds upside down for an entire week and does the exact opposite of what the Blizzard team “envisions:” instead of getting people interested in PvP, it turns people off entirely. Argh, end rant.

What eluded me: actually, I can complain a lot about School of Hard Knocks, but I didn’t have as hard a time completing it as I thought I would. Hell, I even did it twice because Rock was too lazy to do it for his own character. I was definitely the most stressed out, out of any other holiday, but I was lucky enough to walk into battlegrounds where people, even enemy players, were actually helping each other (the enemy team purposely losing the flag and such). But I even complain about this because that is NOT what battlegrounds are supposed to be. I would much rather see them change the achievement to win a certain number of battles or kill a certain number of players. At least that is in keeping with the spirit of the battleground. Ok, now end rant…

No, wait, did I mention you only get one week to do this and that the holiday was on the same week that my family was visiting for my wedding and during which I got (obviously) married? Not a good time.

Midsummer

A reference to Midsummer celebrations during the summer solstice, the event has activities that are all fire related (breathing fire, juggling fire torches, dancing around a fire pole).

Most fun achievement: Torch Juggler was the most fun achievement because I was completely dreading it until I realized how ridiculously easy it is to do :) And because when I was coaching Rock on how to do it I got to say “just click those keys like it’s Space Invaders at the arcade,” and he got it!

Once more around the world: the last of those holidays where you travel all over the world to visit or collect or do something. It was fun and cute during Hallow’s End (you’re trick or treating, how can it not be fun?), tolerable during Lunar Festival (I did it in October, it wasn’t so bad), and downright annoying during Midsummer (oh my god how many more places? I have to visit the alliance places also???).

What eluded me: another grindy holiday where you can complete quests every day to get tokens but it is literally impossible to get enough tokens to buy all of the special items…so I’m missing a pet.

Oh, god, I’m done.

In Which I Was Published

I hate how it's relatively hard for me to post updates here. I really want to improve my writing. I think I could find it therapeutic if I really put some effort into it, but ultimately days wind down and restart and move forward and I never get around to doing what I think I should: writing here, calling my friends just to talk, starting a new project, working on my backlog of projects. And everyday I get a little more frustrated that I don't do those things, particularly getting in touch with friends. I realize this should be easier now with all the social networking craze, but I don't do Facebook. I can't do Facebook. I hate Facebook. I would have deleted my account long ago in protest but oftentimes it feels like the only remaining link I have to people I know. So it has remained even though I never post on it. I feel out of the loop with my friends sometimes because I'm not on Facebook. I don't like the preferred communication method so for now I will keep using the "older" methods, email, phone, skype, gmail chat (which I'm on nearly 9 hours a day). I gotta get to work on that ...

Anyway, this was only supposed to be a post about something relatively neat that just happened recently. One of those update thingies. Two articles I wrote for Wow.com were picked up and actually published on their site. I only told people about the first one but they actually published both articles about a week apart. It's a very silly thing and the writing is a bit lame (and some of it was embellished just a tad). But it was fun to do, it was a complete surprise to me that both got picked up, and it was a lot of fun keeping it a secret from Rock until the first article was actually on the web page.

http://www.wow.com/2010/06/04/breakfast-topic-when-your-gaming-gets-emotionally-charged/

http://www.wow.com/2010/06/11/breakfast-topic-learn-something-new-every-day/

In other news, I am woefully behind on my reading list. I thought it was due to wedding planning and not having any free time, but I've realized that I'm just horribly stuck on this one book because it is absolutely awful. It feels painful to read but I must finish it. It's been about three or four months now since I started it and I still have about 25% of it left. Groan.

In any case, my free time for the next few weeks will be taken up by what little of the World Cup I can manage to watch. During the weekdays, I can get one game in a night before it's time for bed. Yesterday was a big day, as Honduras took the World Cup field for the first time since 1982. It is literally the first time I've seen that happen in my lifetime, and likely to be the only time I see it in my lifetime with that track record :( Sadly, they lost that game to Chile, but they put on a formidable defense. It does say something that so far Chile has had the most strikes at goal in the tournament but only one actual goal. At least we didn't end up like Australia, though we still have to play Spain :( At least Spain got one-upped by Switzerland in the biggest World Cup upset so far, so maybe that says something too... All I know is that it was rather dusty in my apartment when the Honduran flag was carried out into the field...

And, of course, my WoW activities never cease. Next week is the start of the Midsummer Fire Festival, which means that for the next two weeks I will be pursuing the last world event achievements I need to finally get my hands on that glorious 310% speed mount. It was a journey that started last October. There will likely be a separate post about that later :)

Princess Saved! +3 Heart

Another big adventure this past weekend: Rock and I got hitched. We had been talking it over for a while and it finally seemed like a good time for it (anytime when you’re not in school for 10 hours a day and studying your weekends away was bound to be a good time).

In true Rock fashion, instead of a bachelor and bachelorette party, we organized a trip to Funspot, NH for the day before the wedding. Rock, Clip, DIJFYS, Woodelf, and myself embarked on the three hour long journey on May 7th (yay for taking the day off from work!), picking up Subie and my family (sister, mother, brother, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, family friend) along the way. At Funspot, we were also joined by Whitebread and Moxsox. I don’t think my family was quite prepared for Funspot as I had been hopelessly unable to convey to them what this place was going to be like, or to explain to them how, very possibly, the three hour long journey (six hour long when you figure you gotta leave and go home at some point) would just not be worth it for them. I think they were a tad hesitant at first, a little unsettled by the decaying 80’s consoles, but eventually they picked up steam. They tried skeeball, Cat Alleys, air hockey, Nascar racing…I was so proud. I wasn’t quite as worried for the rest of the party folk since I figured they would be just fine on their own. Indeed, once I hit my limit right around 7 pm, Subie, my mom, my mom’s friend, and I hightailed it out and left everyone else to fend for themselves. My brother and sister and their SO’s followed soon after, but the rest of the guys were up there till 9:30 pm. So I guess that worked out for them.

Subie and I were dead tired however, especially around the time we were finally rolling into Northampton around 10:30 p.m. I was trying my hardest to stay awake so she could have company while she drove, but I was delirious from sleep towards the end. So delirious in fact that I didn’t realize I had forgotten to bring my own keys to get inside my apartment until we rolled into the parking lot. Rock had them…two hours north. A couple of frantic phone calls back and forth and I managed to locate the on-call maintenance guy who handles off-hour emergencies. Luckily we only had to wait out in the cold for about 20 minutes before the maintenance guy, as close to a knight in shining armor as I’m likely to see (no offense, Rock), showed up and let me in. Bless him.

The next day (The Big Day, or so the wedding blogs told me) started out easily enough but pretty soon, probably around the third call from Rock while I was at the hairdresser (as he’s trying to get last minute instructions for what things he has to pick up), it started to get hectic. Of course, it’s raining as I’m walking from the hairdresser to the car. A tad more soaked than I would have liked, I make it to the VFW where Rock and Subie have started setting up. I have to pat myself on the back for suggesting to my family that they show up around noon to help me finish setting up. I was pretty certain we would be done by then but their help was actually desperately needed. Once they showed up, we were able to head to Rock’s parent’s house to get ready and leave the rest of the party setup in their capable hands.

I guess when you have one HUGE thought running in your mind all day, you tend to forget little things, like my makeup…my contact lenses…Rock’s shoes…Yeah, I couldn’t see straight during the ceremony because I was not going to go up there in glasses, and I had a last minute stop at the CVS to get some makeup and borrow some from Subie and Rock’s Mom, and Moxsox got a pleading request to hit up the Walmart on his way to the party to get some shoes. THANK YOU!

Once that was straightened out, it was finally time for the big event. I still feel pretty bad that I wasn’t there to greet guests, I was so sure everyone would show up late :) But everyone was already there when we finally rolled up at 2 p.m. Pretty soon after that, we got the ceremony going.

Whitebread was amazing, she played The Legend of Zelda theme as Rock and I walked down the aisle. The people that didn’t recognize it (like my family, bless them) didn’t understand why half the room was laughing as we walked…she did an amazing job, it sounded perfect and I’m only sorry I forgot to ask her for an encore later. It pretty much made my day to have someone playing a fiddle at my wedding.

The ceremony, if you want to read it, can be found here. Subie was our officiant. The first decision Rock and I made, something we agreed upon without doubt or misgivings, was that we didn’t want a stranger to speak at our wedding. We wanted someone we loved and respected, and the choice was obvious. We are both so grateful to Subie for all her help that weekend, and for speaking for us (and you may not remember, but we still owe you gas money!). I was pretty nervous during the whole ceremony so I pretty much just remember that it was quick (about ten minutes, it was perfect!), that I gave Rock the wrong hand for the ring, and that I leaned in to give him a hug instead of a kiss.

After that, everyone got to mingle, eat yummy Atkins food, eat yummy Atkins cake, and listen to my horrible music selection (seems Shuffle will always pick the most annoying songs to play). Lucy, Rock's aunt, made a ton of amazing chocolate cookies. There were about six different kinds and they were all awesome. The rest of the time flew by, I felt like I barely got to talk to everyone. But we’re both so grateful to all those that came. Some of my friends can attest that I was a bit nervous and skeptical about my wedding, but I had more fun than I ever expected, and it’s obviously due to all the friends that were there.

The title to this post came from the huge surprise that our guests arranged for us. The last thing I expected was a “Just married!” decorated car. The backseat full of balloons, the Optimus Prime piñata tied to the hood, the streamers and balloons hanging from the car…it was fantastic! No less than three people almost gave the game away by coming up to us and going on about the Transformers’ car, but neither of us had any idea what they were talking about. It’s a good thing we were so preoccupied with everything else, I guess.

Afterwards, Mr. and Mrs. P hosted a bunch of us at their place. I was dead tired by then and did not partake in the fun as much as I should have, but it was something else to see my brother and brother-in-law playing the accordion, and my sister and sister-in-law Wii bowling for half an hour. And it was also something else to see Rock go hoarse from talking so much with everyone. Poor guy, now he definitely worked the socializing front much better than I did.

Well, that was an extremely long post and this is a good place to end :) It was a fun day. I can’t wait to host the first year anniversary party.

My Septoplasty

I feel like I’m about to write a Scrubs episode. Well, truth is I had a bit of an adventure a couple of weeks ago. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had nose problems. I won’t say they were very serious problems, I’ve never had seasonal allergies or painful sinusitis or nose infections. But my nose has always had…issues. Generally speaking, my nose gets stuffed up a lot and very often, particularly when I’m trying to sleep…even, annoyingly, when I’m dead tired and it is 4:30 a.m. but I can’t fall asleep because I can’t breathe. Lately it had gotten so bad that I could only ever sleep in one position all night long, otherwise my nose would stuff up and I’d have to breathe through my mouth. At least it hasn’t gotten to snoring.

But aside from that I always knew that my nose was a bit off. I’ll be revealing too much over here with this information, but the truth is I could feel that my nostrils were not at all even, and that one of them was nearly closed off entirely. Now that I’m no longer a starving grad student, I figured it was time to get this checked out and see if I could do something about it. And so I went to see the otolaryngologist, and let me tell you, this guy was good. Within five minutes he told me the simple solution was a septoplasty and within ten minutes I had scheduled a day for the surgery. Not bad. I really should have been a doctor.

For the weeks leading up to the surgery, I kept going back and forth on whether it was worth it and if I shouldn’t take more time to think things through. I consulted a very helpful friend who just graduated from med school this year (her response: it’s not open heart surgery, just get it done!). And I rationalized that I should get it done while I have good medical insurance. But I’ll admit I was a little terrified. I’ve never had surgery before.

As you can imagine, I was quite nervous during the days leading up to it. The day before the surgery I got a call from a nurse to give me some instructions and to set up the time of the surgery. I had already been told that I wouldn’t be able to eat or drink anything (not even water!) starting at midnight the night before, but I figured, ah no biggie, the surgery is probably scheduled for 10:00 a.m. or something, I can do that. The surgery was scheduled for 2:00 p.m.! Holy hell, I was not happy. See, I’m sure I’ve gone that long without eating before, whenever I’ve had a lot of work, or slept for twelve hours…hell, I’ve gone nearly 20 hours without being able to hold food down, much less look at it, after a bad hangover (not good times). But as soon as someone tells you have to do this on purpose, it becomes misery. I had a late night dinner and I tried to stay up as late as possible to sleep in the next day (did not work, asleep by 1:00 a.m., up by 8:00 a.m.). I forced myself to take a nap that morning and that got me through till around 11:30 and then I was off to the hospital.

There, I got checked in, put on scrubs (so comfy!), put on those little sock booties, and then talked to the nurse, and the anesthesiologist’s assistant (the actual anesthesiologist had gone missing for a bit, which my doc was not happy about cause the guy was holding up the surgery). I got an I.V. put in, for the first time ever, but thankfully I’m not afraid of needles. This whole time Rock is sitting with me and I’m being all nervous cause I’m worried about what it’ll feel like to fall asleep and then waking up. He tries to reassure me as best he can, bless his soul, but not much is helping. I get to consider my upcoming DOOM for about an hour until finally the doctor comes back and tells me to follow him to the OR. I think I must have made a pretty funny sight waddling down the hallway in my too-large-scrubs and hairnet. The OR was pretty neat looking and I’m kind of disappointed that I didn’t take a few seconds longer to just look around at all the cool stuff. I laid down on the bed and I can still hear my doctor complaining about the anesthesiologist being late and about why I wasn’t hooked up to the I.V. yet (I guess I was supposed to already have been knocked out at this point), and all this time I’m still really worried about what it will feel like to fall asleep. Well, Rock was right in the end, I was sweating the small stuff. The last thing I remember is the nurse coming over to take my glasses off my head, and me looking up at the huge lights…and that’s it. I had been on the bed maybe 20 seconds and that’s all I remember.

The next thing I remember is fighting to wake up and trying to open my eyes, and seeing everything looking very blurry. I also remember thinking “oh man, have they not done the surgery yet? What happened?” I don’t know, for some reason it felt like no time had passed at all. Soon after though I started to feel really nauseous, and I realized my mouth was horribly dry. I think a nurse was standing nearby because I remember telling someone that I was very nauseous and thirsty, but I also think I could have been talking to myself at that point. I also remember beeping going off and one of the nurses rushing up to me and straightening out my arm. I guess I had pinched the I.V. Eventually someone came over and offered me ice chips, bless them. Looking back on it, that was the weirdest part, was waking up. And for about three hours afterwards, I felt so groggy, I couldn’t believe it. The nurse helped to dress me and then Rock came back and we sat for awhile in recovery till I was ready to go, but the whole time I felt so groggy and blah and not there. I couldn’t really lift my head and I felt dizzy.

Eventually I got home and I got to rest. I have to say, Rock was amazing this entire time. First being helpful in the hospital and trying to get my mind off my nervousness, and then going out to get my pills and get dinner. And then patiently putting up with my whims (“I don’t think I want the sandwich for now, too hard to chew, can you heat me up some soup?” “This soup is not very good, can I have the sandwich back?”). All in all, the pain wasn’t that bad. It may have had something to do with the narcotics they prescribed for me, but I wasn’t in any bad pain other than a headache. My nose was bleeding a little bit and I had to wear a gauze strip taped to my face, but the bleeding went away the next day. Other than that, I just had to be careful not to touch my nose, even wrinkling my nose was painful, but it was fine if I just left it alone.

About five days later I went back to the doctor to get my packing removed. That was…not a fun experience. He had to cut up the stitches before pulling out the packing and it felt like first he was trying to pinch through to my brain and then it felt like he was pulling something out of my brain and when the packing finally came out I could feel the suction all the way in the back of my throat. I’m not ashamed to say I cried.

It’s been about a week and a half since then. My nose hurts just a little bit now if I touch it or wrinkle it, and I’m not ready to blow my nose still. I also still have a couple of stitches in there that have to dissolve at some point. As far as breathing, well I definitely think it helped, I can breathe much more easily out of the nostril that was nearly closed. Sleeping has gotten easier and I can even sleep on my other side now. I have to see the doc again in three weeks, and by that point I hope my nose is better than ever! Seems to be on the right path anyway.

Be Here Now - Oasis

I was having a particularly hard time figuring out how to start this review. And then I read the Wikipedia page on Be Here Now and now…oh, my, so much to say. This album came out in August 1997, hot off the heels of Morning Glory. By then, Oasis was generally praised as “the biggest band in the world.” Those are Noel’s words, obviously, but it really wasn’t that far off. The media craziness that surrounded the band around this time (’96 to ’97) was huge. Most of my scrapbook articles and photos come from this period, because the band was EVERYWHERE. Making headlines for going on tours, cancelling tours, losing band members…my favorite piece of video-recording from this time was MTV’s Unplugged, which Liam decided to sit out complaining of a sore throat (brother Noel took up the vocals that day and, actually, sounded pretty good), but then sat at the side balcony heckling Noel all night. That crazy kid. And then followed it up by singing off-key and spitting during Oasis’ performance at MTV’s Video Music Awards in NY. Man, those were good times. Those videos still exist somewhere back home :)

Amidst the adoration and fame and constant press, there was much drug abuse. This pretty much sets the stage for how the band recorded Be Here Now and how the album ended up. If there is one thing critics will agree on about Be Here Now is that it is a bloated, overblown album. A few examples from the Wikipedia page:

- In 2007, Q magazine described the fact that Be Here Now is often thought of as "a disastrous, overblown folly — the moment when Oasis, their judgment clouded by drugs and blanket adulation, ran aground on their own sky-high self-belief."
- Q magazine described the album as "cocaine set to music."
- Irish Times journalist Brian Boyd wrote: "Bloated and over-heated (much like the band themselves at the time), the album has all that dreadful braggadocio that is so characteristic of a cocaine user."
- “It’s the sound of…a bunch of guys, on coke, in the studio, not giving a fuck. There’s no bass to it at all; I don’t know what happened to that…and all the songs are really long and all the lyrics are shit and for every millisecond Liam is not saying a word, there’s a guitar riff in there in a Wayne’s World style.” – Noel Gallagher
- "If he [Noel] didn't like the record that much, he shouldn't have put the fucking record out in the first place...I don't know what's up with him, but it's a top record, man, and I'm proud of it — it's just a little bit long." – Liam Gallagher

How awesome are the Gallagher quotes? Love it. Sadly, though, I gotta agree. But, that means I also agree with Liam. Let me say this first though: I didn’t remember remembering the album so well. Does that make sense? I mean, I really thought that I hadn’t paid too much attention to it, that I hadn’t listened to it that many times when I first bought it. But when I put it on these past few weeks, it was like finding a long lost friend. I knew all the songs, all the words, all the harmonies. I don’t feel any real emotional attachment to it as I do to the others, but I still, clearly, enjoyed the hell out of it. Which is why I understand what people are saying about overblown, but I still love it.

Yes, the album is excessive. Every song is looong, and every song is dying to sound epic. Think of an album made up entirely of Champagne Supernova wanna-be’s (but add about 5 minutes of play time to each). The album itself clocks out at around 71 minutes, nearly 20 minutes longer than either of the previous two albums. There are guitar tracks upon guitar tracks, several key changes within the same songs, and just buckets of sound. Listening to the album all the way through in one sitting can be a bit tiresome. Looping it in my car stereo for three days straight was overdoing it just a tad (a tad being the equivalent of eating three or so Cadbury cream eggs in a row…I have never done this…one egg induces a sugar high just fine).

BUT every song does sound masterful. Each song taken on its own sounds epic and sound-defying and each one induces that same high that Champagne Supernova was going for. I agree with Liam. I don’t know what Noel is going on about. Every song on that album is fantastic, in terms of composition, complexity, layers and layers of sound, editing, riffs, harmonies, key changes, lyrics, drums, vocals, guitars, the whole thing. The album fails because it is too much to take in at once (trust me…too much), but every song is memorable. Liam’s voice is as powerful and unique as ever and Noel demonstrates what makes him such a good songwriter and guitarist. Like the previous two albums, Noel wrote all the songs. Also like those albums, the lyrics tend to be silly, nonsensical, and optimistic, but (and I think this is something I haven’t quite gotten across in my other reviews) his lyrics also tend to be poetic and deep. Noel has often been described as something of a romantic and a philosopher. Every now and then he tries too hard and then things sound forced or silly, but in general he writes pretty, meaningful, simple, relatable words.

I was a bit worried that all these years later I would listen to this album and only think “yep, bloated, long, what the hell were they thinking;” I did, but I also rediscovered how awesome all the songs are on their own.

(What's the Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis

This is where it all started, the first album I acquired. I must give credit where it is due, however: (What's the Story) Morning Glory? was originally a present to my sister. I don’t recall if she didn’t like it or what, but I slowly appropriated it until I wound up listening to it pretty much every day after school. The album came out in the Fall of 1995, and she received it sometime that year, if not early in ’96, so I would have just turned 13 or so…yep, definitely ripe for that “let me obsess over music or boys” phase. I wore that album out, too. I listened to that album so much that the one I currently own isn’t even that same one from ‘95/’96 because that one got so badly scratched, I had to buy a new one. The funny part is, since I listened to it last week, it must have been years since I had last heard it. Time is really creepy when you start to put it that way…

Anway…this is a seriously good album. And it doesn’t much matter if I’m biased about this or not, it’s pretty well agreed upon that this is a good album. For example, I just learned that this album won the Brit Award for the best British Album of the last 30 Years at the 2010 Brit Awards. I’m not exactly sure what the Brit Awards are, but, well, at least someone out there agrees that this is a seriously good album. It has a lot of the same emotional power, rock exuberance, heartfelt lyrics, and everything else that made people take notice of Oasis when Definitely Maybe came out, but it is much more polished than their debut album. You lose some of the rawness that was in the debut album, but you still get great harmonies and ultimately a more put-together sound.

I must concede some gritty truths though. I would not trade Hello for Rock ‘N’ Roll Star for best opening track. Hello is good but Rock ‘N’ Roll Star feels much more emotional. I would also be hard pressed to pick Wonderwall over Live Forever. But you got my favorite Oasis song of all time here: Don’t Look Back in Anger. I guess it’s a disservice to Liam, who really shines in this album as a vocalist, even more so than in Definitely Maybe, but I always had a particular fondness for Noel’s voice, which made this song particularly awesome. There’s also Some Might Say, arguably one of my top five favorite Oasis songs. And the amazingly epic Champagne Supernova. I really like this description I found for that song in Allmusic.com: it succeeds at coming off with a “top-of-the-world/end-of-the-movie feeling.” So true. And, it’s got everything you need in an epic song, from the mellow intro to the rising sound, and the waves crashing (literally) at the end. The length contributes to the epic feel also, topping out the album at 7 minutes and 30 seconds. But it never feels overblown or long.

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory? feels a little less rock ‘n’ roll heavy than Definitely Maybe, but it definitely showcases good song-writing, good vocals, good musicians, a well put-together band, and it pretty much sums up a big chunk of the rock scene of the ‘90s. So, I feel like I could have done a lot worse when I was 13 than listening to this album (cue Rock saying I should have been badass like him and listened to Iron Maiden =P), and years later I still love it.

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

I had Dickens pegged all wrong. Having never read any of his books, I had mistook him for a children's book writer (this is what happens when watching Scrooged is pretty much the only association one has to Dickens). Admittedly, since I've read exactly one of his books, I may now be mistaken in assuming he didn't write any children's books. Clearly I could remedy this by reading a little bit about him, but this review isn't about Dickens in general, but the one book in particular. My point being, I didn't expect A Tale of Two Cities to be such a drag...and gory...and really sad...and violent...and all-out depressing...and bloody. You see what I mean. Then again, what on earth did I expect about a story that takes place during the French Revolution?

The problem about a historical novel, for me, is that I generally know next to nothing about the historical setting in which it takes place. As such, I take the author's word at face value, without question. In this case, Wikipedia also informs me that the author's primary source was The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle. And while I wouldn't necessarily put Wikipedia down as a reference in a college paper (have college professors given up on this and are now just thankful their students read up on a subject at all?), it's good enough for me as I read the book and write this review.

And here's what I learned: the French Revolution really sucked. So maybe it brought about a shake-up in the monarchies, and got them to sit up and realize that starving your nation isn't exactly advantageous. But the whole business itself sounds like one of those They Live nightmares. Apparently even looking at someone cross-eyed was enough to get your head "razored" off, to paraphrase a brutally graphic line from the book, and absolutely anyone around you could end up turning you in as a traitor of the Republic. Even mourning the death of someone that was accused of being a traitor could get you killed.

Overall, Dickens paints a very detailed picture of what life was like in France and England at the time. He doesn't hold back in detailing how violent the times were, particularly when describing the mobs, such as the scene detailing the storming of the Bastille (again, Wikipedia informs me that the brutality Dickens described did, you know, actually happen). Dickens doesn't go so far as to justify the mob and their violence, but it is clear that he understands their motiviations. His descriptions do paint the revolutionary mob as essentially a pack of wild animals hungry for blood, but at the same time he's saying "hey, you push people down long enough and this is what you get." He sees that England could head in the same direction if the authorities continue to oppress the people as he described earlier in the book: "Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious licence and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind." Kinda seems like it would apply to the current situation in the U.S., and maybe an American Revolution is in the way, but that's...a completely different post.

The book's plot is relatively complicated as it intersects the stories of about a dozen characters. In fact, there is so much coincidence in this book you'd think there were only 50 people living in the entire world. The probability of some of these characters actually crossing paths as much as they do, over the time span in which events happen, and at the particular junctures in which they meet and cross, must be non-existant. But it makes for very good story-weaving and surprising moments.

The narration is not at all as straighforward as I expected (why I expected that I'm not sure). Quite the opposite, the narrative is poetic, archaic, stylish, metaphorical, convoluted, and very detailed. It's the kind of book that yields a ton of memorable quotes, and I'm not just talking about the "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" bit. Nearly every page has very smooth, powerful writing, which can sometimes be difficult to get through, but overall the story-telling is unique and interesting.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable book. Even though the subject matter is pretty violent, and even though the book can be really depressing at times, it's a good read and the ending is...well, I won't deny a tear or two was shed.

22 down, 30 to go.