Warcraft, and other guilty pleasures

I've been needing a new game to occupy me in the rare moments when I'm not working or being a bother. Second Life has lost its charm in recent months, everyone on there seems to be in a temper. So I'm taking a bit of a break and allowing myself to be seduced by World of Warcraft.

I've always avoided it because I am a tightarse and it makes you pay monthly - I couldn't see how it justified this considering it's no different to Silkroad and they let you play that for no munnies. Turns out that's not true: Silkroad and its brethren are a bit pants compared to the gaming wonderland that is WoW.

Here I am being frankly impressive with some buffering spells in my swanky new mage's robe. I got it by killing some upsettingly realistic spiders and collecting their silk. I don't know quite how I feel about that...

I am not alone in my virtual adventures. Helping me thwack gnolls and bait bears is the lovely Laura, and it's just as well because I get scared when sent out alone and I die every 6 minutes because mages are feeble and only need to be poked with a stick to kill them.

Her boyfriend is fast going off me, mind you, because he's a night elf and has bunny ears, so I call him Floppybonce. As if that's not bad enough, I then called him Flopsticks, which Laura thought was so funny she keeps using it herself. Earlier today, his 3-year-old daughter called him Flopsticks. Oops...

Here are Laura and I posing wilfully in front of a portal I found in the woods. I am a humble level 28 mage, while she is a flashy level 56. I am her bitch.

Laura herself just appeared on yahoo and requested that I tell you about the monocle her character wears. You cannot see it here because she chickened out during the photo session. As she put it:

Laura k: can u mention my monocle?
Laura k: i wish i hadnt had monocle shame


p.s. On a side note, Blogger seems determined to talk to me in German. I can't think why, it's not like I'll reply.