New Collection

So I have been spending quite a lot of time on Tumblr of late because it is pretty much like crack to fandoms. I mean, it's awesome, but when I look at my Dashboard some days I have no idea how I ended up with such a random assortment of blogs that I am following on that site.

Originally I made an account so I could lurk a bit on a bunch of the Dragon Age sites and submit to Dragon Age Confessions from time to time. I tried to get a thing going doing a random funny photo a day of my daughter's My Little Pony toys, but that tapered out pretty quickly because I just kind of lost the motivation. But then someone sent me an anonymous ask (asks are really one of niftiest bits about Tumblr in my opinion) requesting "more yarn please." Probably because my account name over there is YarnAndTeaIsAllINeed (made on a random whim when I signed up because I was drinking tea and looking at a skein of yarn). But it was a nice little kick in the pants and so I have been trying every day to post at least something yarn or tea related--usually  a picture of yarn from my stash, new acquisition, finished projects, and teacups and teapots.

That has somehow led to me garnering a small handful of followers on the site, which is weird but also nice. So I am trying to spread the love and actually be part of the community over there. When people ask questions I try to chime in if I have anything to say on the subject. It's been kind of interesting watching it develop.

One thing I have started to really notice is the prevalence of animated GIFs in posts. Sometimes because they are funny, sometimes to express a reaction to whatever the post is about, that kind of thing. I know that GIFs have been around forever, but this is the first time I have really paid that much attention to them, because this is the first forum on which I find myself where they are actually a type of communication in and of themselves.

So, I have started collecting GIFs as a random little side effect of joining Tumblr. I thought I'd share with you a few of my favorites that I have come across so far.

(Note that I am not in any way claiming credit for these, they were just found and enjoyed on the internet. The two pony GIFs came from My Little Brony.)

Anyhoo, happy Friday, y'all.

Now I just need to figure out how to make some of these on my own.

State of The Gaming

I often joke that I have sold my soul to Bioware, but you know, I am not so sure anymore that it's a joke. I haven't been able to muster up any kind of interest or excitement lately for games that aren't made by Bioware, all the while, the games that are, I can't get out of my head.

For example, I am very close to completing my second playthrough of Mass Effect 2, complete with all of the downloadable content. It looks likely that I will finish it in the next few days, probably by the end of the weekend, but within a week at the most. Last night I finished reading the first Mass Effect tie-in novel, Revelation, written by the game's lead writer Drew Karpyshyn. It was fantastic. Set before the first game, it tells the story of how Anderson and Saren first met and why they really don't like each other by the time Commander Shepard comes on the scene. I am very glad that I went ahead an purchased all three of the existing novels at one time, because I immediately jumped into the second book, Ascension, once I finished the first. Those plus my playthrough will probably be enough to tide me over until March, when Mass Effect 3 is released.

But now comes the question of what to play next. The plan is to start up a new playthrough of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to get myself once more familiar with that world before the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic is released at the start of the new year. Make no mistake, I am really excited about The Old Republic, and I do want to give KOTOR another go before that comes out. Yet I am not so sure...

...because there is, of course, Dragon Age to consider. Isn't there always? Even though I am playing Mass Effect at the moment, and getting very excited about the forthcoming The Old Republic, Dragon Age is still very much on my mind. I just can't shake it. I have a feeling I might not be able to completely shake it until I have played through all of the origin stories in the first game, and possibly until I have romanced all of the available love interests in the second. To get my fix while I am not playing, I have been lurking on the edges of the fandom of late. Primarily at Dragon Age Confessions (which is pretty much my new crack) and deviantART. There are some really super comics being made by fans. Some are just one-shots, some are episodic stories, going through the events of the game(s). There are some amazingly talented people out there, y'all. It's crazy. I know there is a new book coming out in December as well, so I am really looking forward to that. Plus there's Felicia Day's web series, which finally has a release date of October 11 (yay!) and a new DLC quest featuring her character from said web series. I have thus far managed to avoid the fan fiction. I know it's out there, but I am really trying to not go down that road, because I fear there would be no coming back. I dunno, Dragon Age just fires my mind up and gets my imagination pumping in a way that nothing in the entertainment world has done since Stargate Atlantis first came into my life.*

So...yeah. I have until at least the end of the year to do my playthrough of KOTOR. I haven't decided if I'll play its woefully subpar sequel again or not, but I am kind of leading toward no. Say it takes me about a month to play--that means I don't really have to start my playthrough until the first of December. Which gives me a little over a month to do another run through Dragon Age: Origins (and the new Dragon Age II DLC), since November is a no game month (writing). I mean, it's something to think about at least...

Geez Bioware, why do you have to make so many awesome games, huh?

*This actually gives me a little bit of hope. While I am still completely in love with Stargate Atlantis and all things Stargate, I did eventually come up for air. So thankfully it seems unlikely that Dragon Age will continue to consume me like this forever. Fingers crossed anyway.