Last week was something of a roller coaster of emotions for me. Week started fine and the weather was super nice. Tuesday I experienced a rush of happiness that I hadn’t felt in years and it was so overwhelming I didn’t know what to do myself. Then Wednesday I didn’t get my youngest daughter for her day off because it was my ex’s day, so I was bummed about that but I distracted myself with work…for a while.
Eventually the fact that Wednesday was Veteran’s Day wore away at my defenses and I found myself missing my dad so much I couldn’t concentrate on work. He served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and every year for Veteran’s Day he’d remind us of the importance of the day by quoting, “the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.” So by mid afternoon, I was a useless puddle of emotions.
I made myself feel a bit better by taking my dog Jazzmin for a walk and then spent the evening doing pre-patch content and alt leveling with my awesome friend Jack! I was cheered up by the time I went to bed, but I was still relieved to put the day behind me.
I think Thursday was okay, but on Friday I crashed hard from the euphoria I’d felt on Tuesday because reality had returned. I was crying into my salad at lunch and a pretty useless mess for the afternoon. But then, something fantastic happened that helped me put the week behind me and cheered me up in wonderful ways. Lag.
Now you’re probably looking very confused and asking lag? How is that a good thing? Well, it’s because I wasn’t alone when I encountered it and that it caused some of the funniest in-game action I’ve experienced in a long time! After helping him farm spare parts in Mechagon, I teamed up with the Strawberries’ fearless leader Baltim (always an honor and a pleasure) to level some alts, namely my void elf mage and his worgen warrior.
We decided to quest in Draenor for the sweet experience and the bonus of having Warmode on. We had some issues trying to get quests to sync but eventually coordinated on quests in Gorgrond and had a whole bunch of unfamiliar bonus objectives pop up! I’m still not sure what was going on there, but we got some nice levels out of it!
As we quested in Gorgrond, the lag went from okay, to ridiculous, to nonexistent, and all the states in between. I’d be casting instant mage spells that were far from instant and he’d be heroic leaping where mobs used to be but were long since dead.
Some poison from blobs glitched out and killed me and I fell to my death in a rather inappropriate spot.
We had so much fun that night dealing with lag glitches, laughing, killing things, doing quests, and chatting about life in general and it lifted my mood by leaps and bounds! I know I’ve said this a zillion times, but I am so grateful for the Strawberries and what amazing friends they’ve become!
What made me laugh the hardest about that night though, and what I’m still chuckling about, happened after we were done playing for the night. My mage was only level 25 when we started so I didn’t have flying and B was kind enough to taxi me on his Sandstone Drake. I got stuck in combat pose once due to lag and looked very epic!
We’d often land and he’d charge out of Sandstone Drake form at a mob and it would look normal to me, but to him it looked anything but normal.
To him, it appeared as though I was riding on the back of his worgen form or that he was carrying me under his arm. The joys of lag! The two previous screenshots are his and I’m quite jealous of the quality of them! My old laptop can only handle so much graphics-wise. He sent me those images when we were done playing for the night and I laughed so hard I was crying and could barely breathe! Even now I’m smiling and giggling from looking at them and remembering that crazy Friday night of lag and laughter.
Thing is, I was almost too shy to accept B’s offer to help me quest, as I didn’t want to be a burden and/or interfere with his evening. I also wasn’t sure what sort of company I’d be that night after the week I’d had. As it turned out though, questing together, hanging as friends, and being amused by lag was something we’d both needed. So perhaps the lag was the universe reminding us in a funky way to slow down and enjoy the good times, and that sometimes being stuck in-game can get us unstuck in real life.
Srinity 