Battle Hymn

When they released World of Warcraft (WoW), I knew right away that it was something I should avoid. Swords, sorcery, monsters, and cooperative gameplay in an immersive environment that encourages staying in on Saturday nights? It was practically my dream come true.

My willpower being what it was, I ran out and bought the game immediately. Luckily, I was playing video games for twelve hours a day (and getting paid for it) at the time so I didn't have much stomach for more games at home. Otherwise, WoW might have been the end of me. I shut down my subscription after just two months and only got to level ten or so. All the stories of being able to ride gryphons while hurling thunderbolts from the sky remained just tall tales to me. I knew enough about MMORPGs to know that I should never, ever, touch something like this again.

Then, a few weeks ago, Eric called me and said, "Have you played Guild Wars? It's kind of like D&D. We need a monk." I caught his phone call in the middle of dinner but even above the din, I didn't have to hear much more.

So, now, here I am, hopeless addicted and loving every minute of it. I'm trying to race through the game to catch up to my friends so that I, glory priestess of healing, can join them in battle. I'm almost there.

In fact, it's all I can do to curb my enthusiasm and not call them up every day to play. My fellow adventurers have real lives, wives, children, and more. I do not. Which translates to me jumping up to a respectable level pretty quickly, even as the holidays and a trip to San Francisco interrupted my video game time.

Pretty much all I want to declare here is that we now have our very own guild hall and yes, this is our boat. See you post-searing.