At The Cantina

     Well, I am at the cafe, and I've been writing for hours. 
     I am mentally preparing to go back home and turn 'Clone Wars Adventures' on.
     I don't know what will happen when I do.
     It is a different game every time when it isn't the same.

•      Anyway, look at this...I discovered the 'point bullet' list function on this blog.  Now I can write about item after item.
•      You know what?  There are two sides to every coin, and one time in a million, a coin will land on its edge when flipped.  This has been mathematically proven.
•      R2-D2 has more emotional value than Padme.  I am still not convinced of Natalie Portman's acting skills.  She started young, and I saw her on David Letterman as a youth.  She just seems 'tinny' to me, and doesn't seem to have much resonance as a person.  She might be a delight in real life, who knows?  But it doesn't seem to come across in her acting.  She is a pretty lady, and has earned her Star Wars status as 'Princess Leia's mom' but that's about it.  She is a celebrity, but is she a real actor?  Can she really create a character and make it her own?  Or is she just herself in every movie and just 'acts' her way through it?  I am just not convinced of any great talent she has as an actress.  She looked great in tight white pants at one point, I'll give her that.  But, eventually, the woman gets older, and the ass ages along with it.  Then she becomes a mom, and who else cares after that?  It is just how the world is.  We love youth and beauty, and despise old age in this culture.
•      I like my new Shadow armor.  I still need at least one more beacon to obtain my Shadow rifle, maybe more.  I did find a beacon this morning after looking around for twenty minutes.  Those things are so hard to find, so it is terrible when you find one, and some kid comes along and steals it.  This pisses me off to no end.
•      I have tried to 'train' enemies onto players in the Umbara zone, like you could do in EverQuest, but it doesn't work too well.
•      It isn't easy to get beacons for Jedi Meditation Orange Trees.  It takes a while to get all eight of them.  It could be ten, I am not sure exactly.
•      I am sure that Star Wars: The Old Republic will help to decrease the player population of 'Clone Wars Adventures'.  A lot of players will not have a good enough computer to play TOR, though, so those people will be stuck with me, and I will be stuck with them until I can get an upgrade.
•      It was cool that a dad was on the game with his son last night.  "Hey Dad!  Come over here!"  That was cool to see in the chat box.
•      Well, I could sit on my ass here and type, or go home and play the game.  Hmmm, what should I do?  I have coffee at home I can drink instead of spending more money here that I don't have yet.
•      Well, it looks like it is time for war.
•      It is time to crush and destroy my opponents and enemies.
•      The cafe is a good cantina.  All kinds of aliens come here.  I just saw a guy that poked his head into the door, and he literally looked like 'That Yellow Bastard' from Frank Miller's SIN CITY.  His ears stuck out and were really big, and he had a similar goblin face.
•      I still have not made an Umbara video yet.  I have been waiting.  I know the zone well enough to make a run-through video now.  When I am not lazy, and when I take care of some other things on my computer, like making more memory space on it, I will film it.
•      I always have to explain to people why I can't make a video of them right now.  There are problems, because I make so many videos that it clogs up my computer, so I have to go through this whole process with every video.  It isn't even easy to explain here.  Basically, I have to make one or two at a time, and there is also limited room on my memory card on my camera.  Like I said, it isn't easy to explain, and it isn't even worth explaining.  All I know is I have to follow certain steps.  If I have too much crap on my computer, then the games won't work, and I've been trying to take care of that problem for a while now.  I know how to solve the problem, it will just take time to do so.  I've been a very prolific photographer over the last five years.
•      Okay, I'm about ready to go home now to see what happens.

A Short Session

     I just had a short session of 'Clone Wars Adventures'. 
     It was fun.  I played Mine Buster on hard level, earned some credits, and received my crate of the day.
     I looked around the Officer's Club for Jedi Meditation Orange Tree beacons.  They were popping up there, but I did get one in the Jedi Lightsaber Chamber.
     I traveled to Umbara, and ran through the airfield on my AT-RT to the other side, and killed a lot of enemies.  I got lucky when I found a beacon for my Shadow rifle.
     I have all the Shadow armor now.  That took a while.  There is no rhyme or reason where the beacons are on Umbara.  They show up randomly it seems, though sometimes they appear when you kill a large number of troops.  That is all I have to go on.  After I get my Shadow rifle, I don't know what the point of being on Umbara will be.  It is not a good place to make credits.  The pay is lousy at two credits per kill.  It is a dangerous job, too.  If you talk too much while on Umbara, you will die.

     I was able to get enough beacons last night in the Officer's Club to get four orange trees.  It is best when you have the room to yourself, then you can get all the beacons that appear.  I often play Mine Buster in there, and then look for beacons and spheres.

     There was a dad on the game with his son last night, so this game is for all ages.  I just don't happen to have any kids.  Everybody is family, though, and despite attempts to call me a child rapist by mean bullies on the game, I treat everybody as equals.  Most people know that.

     I am trying to maintain a balance of 100,000 credits, because just like in real life, it sucks being broke.

     The worst thing on the game now is when you find a beacon on Umbara, and some kid comes a long and steals it from right under your nose.

     It's a kid's game, especially with the serious gaming that is now going on with Star Wars: The Old Republic.  My computer can't handle that game.
     I'm going to need a new computer for that game.
     I bought this one just so I could play Star Wars Galaxies, but now that game is defunct.

     It is kind of cool to play CWA, and then go right into the blog, where my memories are still fresh.

     I've gotten better at surviving on Umbara.  What you do is you run into a big group, and pull back immediately.  Then you press 2, and shock wave them dead.  Then you shoot them up, being mindful of health and mana floating circles, using them when you need a replenish, and not wasting them. 
     I can survive for quite a while this way.

     My Astromech droids have Christmas lights, and it is pretty dang cute.

     I was able to put up the video on youtube to advertise this blog with a link.  I am hoping over time that will help in getting hits and clicks on this blog.
    
     Writing about CWA is interesting to me.  I can play the game, and come here right away and write about what I just saw and experienced.

     One person took me off of their friend list while I was playing, apparently for no reason at all, unless there was one.  Maybe he saw a video of mine he didn't like.  I have no idea.  Friends are easy come and easy go on that game.
     It still hurts a little when somebody unfriends you, though.  I can't explain why.  I guess because it makes you feel that you've been rejected.  I know that feeling well.  Too well, in fact.

     Anyway, so there you go.  I think I covered every main thing, except that I also ran into the pirate camp, and a ship followed me down there.  I had never seen that happen before.

     The rancor is pretty hard to kill.  It helps if you have at least five people there to destroy it good and fast, otherwise, you will die.

     My bling gun works real good in the Umbara zone.  I was impressed.
     I did use my Spring Fever gun on Umbara, and it works good, but the bling gun works better for killing.  It was just funny to kill things with a blast of flower power, especially since Umbara is such a cold, dark place.  It was nice to bring some happiness to that desolate war torn planet.

My mount disappeared, but it is back now and other stuff

    F***.  I just got off the game.  My eyes are all batty from running around on Umbara.
    Imagine my freak out when my AT-RT mount just disappeared.  It was a lag thing.  I rebooted the game, and it came back, thank god.  I was thinking that they would wear out, and that I would have to buy another one, and at four bucks a pop, that would suck.
    I almost gave both myself and Vann Blazebreaker a heart attack with the fact that my mount had disappeared, because I was telling him what happened.
    Anyway, I helped Vann to get an orange tree in the Officer's Club.  He was happy when he finally got one.

    A kid named Sam took took two of my beacons that I was standing right in front of on Umbara.  I was just about to get them and the little bastard stole them from me.  I was mad because I just spent an hour looking for them, and then when I found them they were stolen right under my nose. 
    So, that is the new kind of kid, 'The Beacon Stealing Kid'.  What they do is follow you around on Umbara and let you do all the fighting, and then they scan the landscape, and steal what ever beacon might be there.  You are too busy fighting, so you don't even realize what happened.

     Anyway, I was able to put three new orange trees on my Kamino lot, so I was happy.

     It is nice to just sit here and write after the game, because that new zone, while being awesome, makes my eyes buggy.

     In comparison to EverQuest, and even Free Realms, CWA doesn't have that much real estate in it.  Umbara is going to get old really fast once enough people get their Shadow armor.  They are going to have put new quests in the zone eventually, and more things to do.

     'Clone Wars' still has a long way to go as a video game.  I'm glad it keeps getting better and improving, but it is not epic yet.  I hope some day it will be.
     While I'm at it, I also hope they get some better writing in the Clone Wars t.v. show.  I don't know why they have to keep that sucktastic feeling from Episode I going, where the characters feel so wooden, and the words have no feeling.  Padme is an emotionless character.  It is really hard to care about her.  R2 has more emotional depth, and he's a droid.

     You know what I am saying?  (  Just so you know, I hate that phrase. )

New Dynamics about the game

     Well, good morning and Happy Monday.
     You know, I could be on the game at home playing, but instead, I am here at the cafe about to write about 'Clone Wars Adventures'.
     I just had a session, and so many things happen, that it is very difficult to describe to people what is going on.  It is hard to explain it to myself.
     One of the compounding problems is the challenge of communication.  The chat box sucks, basically, we all know that.  The English language is slaughtered with that thing.  Add to young people who speak primarily in 'chatspeak' and you got a problem.  They often don't understand a sentence when they read one.  So, there is user error with language, and there is epic mechanical failure with the chat box.
     In 'Lord of The Rings Online' and other games, they have speech capability if you are in a group.  I don't think they will have that in 'Clone Wars' anytime soon, but it would sure help to communicate ideas.
     Anyway, I will put up the video today to advertise this blog on youtube.  Not much will happen for a while.  Things take time, but who knows?  Over time, I may find some people who want to read what I write and think about 'Clone Wars Adventures'.
     It can get really confusing with four or five people talking at me at once when I am in the Umbara battle zone and with my brother in a gmail chat box.  If I talk too much in the Umbara war zone, I will die.  It's happened many times already.
     So, basically, the main reason to be on Umbara is to collect beacons to obtain the Shadow armor.  It takes a long time.  I still have more beacons to get after days of collecting.  There are a lot to get.  If you can find a beacon within ten minutes of looking, count yourself as lucky.  Some people are really good at finding them.  I am not one of those people yet.
     Also, the new dynamic is that people will try and steal the beacon you just found.  They follow you around and scan the landscape while you engage in battle, and they take your freakin' treasure, the little bastards!  Anyway, that happens, so just be aware.  At first, I thought they were following me because I thought they liked me.  I didn't even know about the beacons at first.  I always get my information on the game second hand because I don't have the time or the desire to keep up to date in the forums.  I don't gravitate towards forums of any kind.  The worst feeling is being lost in forum, and navigating around in there trying to find something.
     Anyway, the new Umbara battle zone is a big success.  People really like it.
     There is a rancor to kill, and pirates, and the zone solves the claustrophobia problem that the game has had for a long time, with only having the jedi temple to run around in, it's been pretty sucktastic.
     The AT-RT is worth the four bucks, because the Umbara zone is pretty big, and the AT-RT allows you to run through all the enemies so you can find the beacons.  To do it on foot is possible, but it becomes 'Not Fun' really fast.  Also, the AT-RT allows you to find beacons in the airfield.  On foot, you get blasted to hell pretty fast.
     It's sick, but I am just getting started, too.
     I'm going to stand outside and take a break, brb.

* * *
     I just had a 'shoot the s***t' session with my friend Marco.  You see, we play 'Magic The Gathering' every Sunday night, and if the only thing that comes out of it is idea generation, then it is a real useful thing.  We both like Monty Python, and talking about stuff that goes on in the world.  Our dialogues are seasoned with talk about rock and roll, hard rock, heavy metal, and death metal, as well as film and movies.

     Anyway, back to Clone Wars.  Well, the game has suddenly become better with the Umbara battle zone, and with the collections.
     I hung out in the Officer's Club today for an hour, and I was able to get enough beacons in there to get the new Orange Tree.  That is awesome.  Just the fact that there is a new reason to even be in the Officer's Club is really great besides just being there to avoid non-members. 
     There is no point to play the game unless you are a member.  The game doesn't offer much to non-members.  All you are as a non-member is to be an extra in a movie or to stand there like a prop.  It isn't much fun.

     So, the communication is rough in the game.  The people are a pain at times.  But you know what?  The game is a lot of fun, regardless of everything.

     The other dynamic is the relationship between Clone Wars and youtube.  That is a whole other subject which I could talk about at length, when I gather some more ideas about it.  Youtube is basically how a lot of people got to know me.  Besides them watching my videos of what I do in the game, the comments section allows people to express themselves.  That is a good thing, since, as I mentioned, it is hard to express yourself in the game, where there are tons of misunderstandings.
     Some kid called me a prick because I didn't feel like making a video of him, so I put him on the Ignore list right away.  I didn't like him at all.  I have found that to be a friendd with someone like that is only going to get worse, so it is better just to banish them to The Phantom Zone, and be done with it.

     I like putting people on the Ignore list if they give me a reason, they will go there right away.  They can stay there until next Life Day.  Once a year, I remove everyone from the Ignore list, and give people another chance.
     A year is a good amount of time.  A lot can happen in a year.

     Anyway, that is all I got to say about Clone Wars right now, but more will come later.

     ( The Orange Tree is part of the Jedi Meditation Tree Collection?  Okay.  How many different trees will they have?  I don't know. )

My Mission was a failure

     I was so excited about triple cash day, so I left my place on my bike to go to 7-11. My mission was to return before midnight.   Simple task, huh? 
     It was not to be.
     Well, I made it home, but I was so hammered that the first thing I did was to take out the sc cards and put them at my computer area, but I put them in a place that was not easily visible.
     Then when it came time to pump in the codes, I was like, "Where the F*** are my cards?"
     It is a long story what happened after that, but it was not pretty.  I was really upset, as I watched minute by minute go by wondering where my cards were.
     I finally found them, but midnight had passed, and I missed out on an extra $60 to go into my sc.
     I was sooooo sad.
     I still am sad, because I blew it, but at least I found the cards and I got something for my trouble.
     Man, did I get hammered.
     All I had to do was to put the cards in a place where I could see them, but I didn't.
     Nothing I can do about it now.

     Then I ended up having an argument with my oldest brother in the gmail chat box.  After all these years, he still wants to argue with me.  Unbelievable.  He hasn't learned a damn thing.

* * *
     So, it is my quest to find all of those canisters or beacons so I can get the shadow armor.  Those little things are hard to find.
     I did get the RT-AT, thank god.  It is pretty cool, but it does not shoot.  'Wtf?' was my first reaction.  It does not shoot.  I could not believe it.  What is the point of it?  Well, the point is that you can run fast through the zone which makes it easier to find the beacons.  What happens as you run through the zone is all of the robots and soldiers start following you around, and then when you pick up the beacon, you die.  It is worth paying 1000 credits just to get that beacon because they are so hard to find.
     I don't know how many more of those beacons I need to get.  I know I have found at least ten of them.  I will probably get them all in a day or two.
     I bought a new droid for $3.00, but yeah, I really blew it on Triple Cash Day.  I was so bummed out that I misplaced those cards for a while.  I was distressed.

     So I finally pumped in the codes and then the game decided not to work.  Just my luck.  I finally got it to work this morning. 
     But yeah, the chat with my oldest brother John was miserable.  I don't care what his problem is, he has to leave me out of it.  But he doesn't.
     Anyway, I went out and got a piece of chicken, some rice and beans.  It was damn good.
     Then I was still really drunk, so I went outside and found a woman who wanted to come over, so we both went to sleep.  We didn't do nothing.  She didn't like me at all, so I kicked her out at 8 a.m.
     Then, I got onto Clone Wars, and bought the mount, and people try to talk to me while I am in the war zone, and if I talk too much, I die.  So then what happens is I have four or five kids saying, "Dirk!  port to me."  Or, they put a question mark '?', or they say, 'Dirk, where are you?"  I can't answer because I have twenty robots shooting at me.  Then they keep typing in the box, never thinking for a moment that I might actually be busy or occupied.  This never occurs to them.

     So, it was one hell of a night.  I was drawing at the bar, and people kept buying me beers, and it was all a splendid good time.

     It was unfortunate about my sc cards, and the whole triple cash thing.  I can't believe I blew it.  I can't believe it.

     EPIC FAILURE.

     My mission was a failure.

    Damn it.

Triple Cash Day - "I pity the fool who does not take advantage of this day"

     Today is Saturday, and I have less than twelve hours to get to 7-11 and back to redeem the SC cards I will buy.  I am definitely going to buy at least two $10 cards.  I could buy three.  That would give me $90 worth of SC.  That would last me a while.  To buy two will probably be enough, though.  That will give me $60 worth.
     Today is the day to get Lifetime Membership.  On triple cash day, it only costs $20.  Great is the Clone Wars Fool who does not take advantage of this.
     Meanwhile, the Umbara Battlefield is going great.  It is a pretty big area, and the kids can run around and kill as much as they want.  However, you only get two credits for each kill, and if you die, and pay to respawn at the same place, there goes all of your efforts down the tubes.  In other words, it is not a good place to make money.
     The zone is similar to the zombie zone in Star Wars Galaxies, where you just kill one after another until it sickens you.  That game is now defunct, sadly.  I'm surprised they just didn't switch it to free to play.  There is an emulator for that game, so maybe I could play it that way, but I don't know if that is any good.  I like official games, not the hack-offs.
     I'm seeing the reason how this blog will be useful for me.  I can write about things in Clone Wars that I don't have time for in a video.  Also, I can really work out my thoughts regarding the game.  That prospect has suddenly become interesting.
     One thing about being on the battlefield is, that if you talk too much, you may die.  It has happened to me several times, where some kid will start chatting away, and so much is going on that I don't notice that my health bar is going down.  The issue is compounded if two kids are talking to me at the same time.
     I didn't find out about that you could get shadow armor by doing the collection in the Umbara zone.  That gives a reason to be there, because I was trying to figure out what the point of it was.  Running around in a war zone gets old pretty fast unless you are going after something and have a purpose.  A friend of mine helped me to find a lot of armor canisters, so that is one thing I can do for people which is to help them find the little shining beacons.  Somebody is helping me to find them, so then I can pass that act of good will along and help other people.  The reason is that they are very difficult to find.  Helping somebody in a video game is A Noble Act of God, sometimes more important than helping people in real life.  It certainly means a lot more.  So many people have helped me, especially in EverQuest, that in honor of those people, I must help others, or at least provide some kind of service if I can.
     So, I have my work cut out for me.  I have to write my articles here, and then go home, jump on my bike, and ride to 7-11. 
     I don't know a store that sells Clone Wars cards in this area, so I have to ride into town.  Fortunately, it doesn't take long.

     Let's see, anything else that I want to mention about Clone Wars right now?  I'm not sure at this moment, except dirk wampaflash2 was a 'Cling Kid' yesterday, following me around all the time.  It was getting annoying after a while.  I hope he doesn't do that anymore.  I need my space.
     Also, Deannik Blackson always wants me to visit his house.

     I wanted to mention that in the war zone, kids have figured it out that all you have to do is follow somebody, and they do all the killing, and then you look for armor beacons.  How annoying is the person who does that.  So now, not only do I have to be careful of enemies shooting at me, but of kids trying to steal my hard-earned treasure. 
     "Little Bastards," is all I can say.

     This is the second Triple Cash Day they have had.  The last one was last summer around July 4th.  So, for two days a year, you can really stock up on SC.  I pity the fool who does not take advantage of this day.

The Invasion of Your World

     Hello, I am David Lovins.  I am 44 years old.  I play 'Clone Wars Adventures'.
   
     My character Dirk Wampaflash is a clone.  He is the same age as all the other clones.
 
     Most of the people on the game are playing characters that are older than they are.  So, their characters often have the mind of a twelve year old.

     It is sometimes difficult to navigate around all the young minds.  I've been attacked recently because of my age.
     However, I have found that no matter what the age of a person is on this game, they will be attacked, too.
     A friend told me he gets verbal attacks everyday.

     There are some mean little bastards on the game, whose only purpose is to attack other people, for no reason whatsoever.
     This sounds exactly like junior high and high school.

     Why do humans do this?  I know not.  Ignorance in action is my best bet.

     There is a lot of stupidity in the human race, that much is for sure.

     People develop at different rates.

     When people go through adolescence, things can get confused.

     The body often does not normalize until age 22.  I am not kidding.  There is a high risk of going crazy until that age.  It is best not to do too many drugs or drink too much alcohol during this time, because you can end up going crazy for life, like some people do.
     It is true.
     I have seen a lot of whack jobs in my time, that is for sure.

     The crazy person then becomes a burden on others, and they never realize that it might be them who are a pain in the ass.

     In a way, some of them let themselves slip, because they can't hack it anymore.  They want to be taken care of just like Mom and Dad used to do.
     In reality, that just doesn't happen.

     People have to be ultimately responsible for their own actions, and the choices they make.  They have to pay the consequences of what happens.

     Back to the subject of 'Invading Your World'.  I will continue to be there in 'Clone Wars'.  Don't f*** with me.
     Basically, when I play the game, I don't even initiate any conversations.  I let people decide if they want to talk to me or not.
     As it is, I am flooded with people who want to talk with me.

     The trolls will receive a gun to their forehead, that is all I can say.

     I have no problem putting anybody I feel like on my Ignore list within seconds of them being a dick to me.  If I sense that there is no indication that the person in question will ever be useful to me, then on to the Ignore list you go.  No problem, buddy.  Bye.

     When I am on the game, I am 'Dirk Wampaflash'.  I behave as he would.
     I will take care of any bugger who bothers me, sooner or later.

     I hate to put people on the Ignore list, actually.  It saddens me that I have to do it, but you know what?  Sometimes there is no other choice if there is someone who is not on my side, I have to get rid of them, pronto.

     There are people who don't want me there on the game.  Well, it is too bad.  I am going to be there.  I don't know what their problem is.  They are prejudice against my being older.  They also don't like that I basically watch what they do, and I have the power to put stuff on youtube.
     I am liked by some, and hated by others, just how it goes.  A lot of people have that problem on the game.
     There are an outstanding number of bullies on the game.  It is almost unbelievable how many there are.
     Conceited little bugger bastards.
     They will get what is coming to them, that is for sure.

     A lot of the kids take out their aggressions in the game.  Probably some of the mean kids in the game are picked on in real life, and they have lots of hate that they dump onto other people.

     Well, I am ready, and it is war.

     It is no longer wise for me to just be defensive.
     I actually have to go on the Offensive now.

     My, my, am I going to have fun.

     I...will...invade...your....world.