Jehoshaphat

Yes, yes it is. While I cant give you a good review of it yet, seeing as I only played about an hour of it…the game seems to be really fun. The graphics are really pretty, the style of play has always been tops on my list. I need to spend more time on the game but I really think this could end my run WoW.

The game did include some little fun toys. Like the marker for the mini-map. Of course when mature adults like me and Firethorn party together, the first thing you see in the mini-map is the word ASS. I think we spelled it out at the same time.

Not a big news day, its Friday, thats ALWAYS a good thing.

This update will be completely about life. My life and the turning points I have come to. Most of this you probably will not understand, I’m probably going to leave alot of details out, so dont worry if it sounds confusing, its really only for me.

I love to read inspiring quotes. My favorite quotes come from the Dalai Lama. He has incredible spirit about him and his wisdom is simply amazing.

“I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace. ”

That inner peace has escaped me for the longest time. I’ve struggled in the past with dark days and dark pathways. It seems that alot of my efforts to find inner peace were basically selfish actions hidden in actions that appear to be self-less acts. But it has become apparent that my actions have grown much dark and much more selfish. I think it scares me to gave up so much of myself to someone and handover so much control to someone…its like my mind is trying to fight against that.

By doing that I have hurt other people and cast away their feelings and thoughts, basically building a culture of me. That has failed miserably.

“I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed. ”

My ignorance has caused suffering; my selfish pursuits have inflicted pain. For that, I am eternally sorry. Thankful, those I have hurt have the patience that I dont not. So, how does someone change the way they act, the way they love, the way they think, the way they care. I can’t really say. But that doesnt mean I can’t try. Henry David Thoreau, the great transcendentalist thinker and writer, said “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” I dont want to live my life down that dark path and find that I havent lived my life to its fullest.

Good stuff…clears the heart and the mind of weights that weigh too heavy to carry.

As far as gaming, its going to take a backseat for awhile. I’m not going to stop playing but, I need to devote some time to other things. “When I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things.” (I Cor. Ch 13 V11) I’m not a child anymore…

I’ve come to the realization that I dont like my job. Here’s what that means to me…I dont like going to work anymore. I was always believed this cruel lie that you can be happy at work. I no longer feel that way. The way I understand it, or aleast the way my current job has jaded me, is that a person perfect usually lies just beyond their reach. And if they can reach it, usually there are factors that make reaching for it impossible, like having to move across country or taking a severe drop in pay.

I hate the enviroment I work in. I dont like the people, I dont like the management, I dont like the fact that we are doing everything counter to what I was told the IT development process is. I read about CMM levels and document control and policy and procedures. We have no of those and my managers have no idea why they are important. We have no documentation for our system…if you have a problem with someone you have to talk to the individual developer of a certain report.

I hate it. I feel like I’m learning nothing. I feel like I’m going through this shit just for the money…and its making me unhappy. Of course one of my friends had to point out that 80% of my life is spent in this hell-hole. And if im unhappy here, im most likely not a great person to around when I’m not at work.

So what Ive done, is I’ve started a plan. Im writing down my likes and dislikes. I’m writing all my options…and I’m thinking about all the different possibles. Hopefully that way, I can keep my mind on something else, besides my open hatred for my job.

I’m going out of town on Sunday…So most likely I’ll have an update for you on Monday about how much I love airports and planes…weeeee!

I pose this question for everyone…what does your name mean to you? In life, it gives you a sense of individuality, a sense of identity. Well, in gaming, the same is true.

My online name is Jehoshaphat. It’s a biblical reference to the kings of old. After the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt and made their way back to Judah, they were ruled by a series of kings. Because the Israelites kind of walked back in to Judah, they were at war with their neighbors constantly. Well there were two kings…one of Israel and one of Judah (Actually there were many kings, but the kings of Judah and Israel are the key kings of the Old Testament). Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah. He went to the king of Israel and asked he wanted to go to war with him. They agreed and did what all kings of old did, they asked the prophets of the time to bless the war and ask them if God would help them.

Now here’s the common theme in the books of first and second Kings… King is put in power by the hand of God, he follows God for awhile, he defies God, God gets mad, God smites King and those who follow him, God brings another King to power. So you’ve got this King of Israel, he was a godly man, now he’s lost his way. All of his prophets are really shady, they are talking with idols, and Jehoshaphat knows this is wrong. So he asks “Is there not a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?” What does the King of Israel say… “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD , but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” Right there, if you were the king of Israel, you know you fucked up.

So Micaich shows up. He starts telling the King of Israel bad things Basically, yes attack your enemies, Israel will win, but you will die. “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.” He tells how the Lord told him that the prophets of the King of Israel will entice him into attacking and that they will only speak of certain victory. Of course the prophets of Israel call a Micaich a liar, a moron, a crazy nut. “Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the face. “Which way did the spirit from [a] the LORD go when he went from me to speak to you?” he asked. Micaiah replied, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inner room.” <– Again, if you were Zedekiah, you have to realize at that moment, you’re fucked and God is about to smite your ass.

So the two kings decide to go to war. But Ahab, the king of Israel is a little scared. So he decides to try and fool God…btw, another moral of the Old Testament, don’t try and fool God. He knows that God will grant Israel victory but he will die during the battle. So he tells Jehoshaphat, “I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes.” Basically, he thinks he can cheat death and Jehoshaphat will die because he’s wearing his robes.

Now the king of Aram, the country these two were fighting was PISSED! How dare Israel try and attack me…he ordered his elite chariots to attack nothing but the king of Israel, who of course is Jehoshaphat dressed in the kings cloths. So these elite chariots make their way thru the battle, and find Jehoshaphat in the kings clothes. They realize this, they have their orders not to kill anyone but the king of Israel, and so they leave and continue to go look for him. “But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor.” OWNED?!? The Israelites rally around Jehoshaphat, toss their dead king aside…and proceed to roll over the enemy.

God bless Jehoshaphat for being faithful and fearless. Jehoshaphat goes on to rule Judah, never losing a single battle. He dies and is buried with his fathers. As for Ahab, “So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried him there. They washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria (where the prostitutes bathed), and the dogs licked up his blood, as the word of the LORD had declared.” Again moral of the Old Testament…don’t defy a true prophet of the Lord, you will die in the end and be made an example of.

So all that to explain the backgrounds of the name Jehoshaphat and why I choose that name. I choose it because it felt kinda familiar at the time. Heres a guy who did what he was told and didnt defy the rules or his order because he didnt like them. In turn he was granted victory after victory after victory. On the other hand, Ahab, did what he wanted, because he felt it was right. He was easily led astray. And he paid the price for it.

As for gaming, I did a Dire Maul run of the east instance last night. Killed all boss, and smote lots of tree elementals. Didn’t really find anything good, the Satyr’s bow didn’t drop but I did get a sweet ass sword from the end boss. Overall it was a good time, except that my pet died 35 times because the healer decided not to heal him. FFS. Project Greenlight is on tonight so me and Valerie are going to sit down and watch that. Plus with my trip to New Orleans coming up soon, I need spend some quality time with my love.

Haha….what a night last night. It was all about being goofy as hell. And I enjoyed every last minute of it. There was a lot of just being assclowns, which was helped by the company of Justin, the true master of being a fucktard, and by Firethorn, the master of the pointness, annoying macro. The night started simply enough, but slowly devolved into shitcockery. It didnt help that Omegaspector got online…the last time we saw him, he was running away from us and hiding at the bottom of a lake. The night was capped off with Firethorn’s wife taking over his headphones and mic. Good times were had by all…

A side of effect from last night is that Im still in the same mood and I’m mentally exhausted.

“Frrrrreeeeddddddddooooooommmmmmmmm!!!!”

Not much to say. I watched the b-ball game last night. It was good to see Roy Williams finally win something. (Wish he could have done that at Kansas though). It really wasnt that great of a game. The college game to me has been off for while. Way too many turnovers, way too many 3-point shots…its just bad basketball. The pros are no better, thats why the Euros are getting better…they actually play the game.

I played alittle WoW, made some armor for Ben’s character. I was still upset about the PvP stuff from the weekend, I dont think I’ll go that indepth into but seeing a hunter and trying to fight him only to see him be healed over and over and over and over and over was very upsetting. Not that I couldnt kill him, but that I had the same healer setup but my healer never had mana for heals because,….just because.

I think this is going to be a slow week for me and WoW. I dont have time for the instances I want to do and I cant do much else at level 60. So, I guess I’ll wait for PvP content…why am I paying for this game again?