Graph

Okay. Time for some WoW talk. I'm gettin' low on money! Oh noes! What'll I do?! I ask Alec. "What do you think I could do to make some money on WoW?" He tells me that a lot of people farm (search around, hunt for) Primal Fire, and then sell it to make a profit.

Here's your WoW lesson for the day... when you kill an Elemental (type of monster) it has a chance of dropping its own element, in a Mote. A mote is an item. I can kill a bunch of Fire Elementals, with a chance of Mote of Fire's to drop (when you kill a monster, you can right-click their corpse to get stuff from 'em). Once you get ten Motes, you can right-click the motes, and turn them into one Primal Fire. That's what sells for a lot. Anyway, back to my story.

He tells me a lot of people farm for Primal Fires (well, Motes, then turn them into Primal Fires) and then sell them on the Auction House. (The Auction House is a... well, an Auction! It's run completely by other WoW players. If you find something when you're killing stuff, and you want to sell it, you can put it up for Auction. You can put a Buyout - which means that people can buy it instantly for that price - or you could put it up for people to bid on. Normally I put Buyout, 'cause that's easier and faster.)

He tells me Primal Fire sells for the most, currently. By the way, like in real life, the prices depend on how much other people put the items up for. Supply and Demand.

There are a buunch of Primal-whatevers that anyone can get. Primal Fire, Primal Water, Primal Air, Primal Earth, Primal Shadow, Primal Life, and Primal Mana. I think that's all. You can also get Primal Might, but that's another story.

Hmm. I wonder. Is it true that Primal Fire sells for the most? Let's look!

I check out the Auction House, by typing in the Search, "Primal Fire". (For all those wondering on the time frame, right now in the story, it's yesterday.) Currently, the Primal Fires are selling for 25 Gold! That's pretty good. I just need four of 'em to get 100 Gold. That's *really* good. But is it still as much as everything else? Hmmm.

I put in the Search "Primal Air". WHOA! Primal Air is selling for 28 Gold! Yes, not THAT much more than Primal Fire, but when you're selling a lot at a time, it adds up.

All right, 25 Gold for Fire, and 28 Gold for Air. I wonder...

I put in the Search "Primal Water". That's sellin' for 25 Gold, 50 Silver! (Okay, another WoW lesson. It takes one hundred Copper to become a Silver, and one hundred Silver to become a Gold. You can have all the gold ya want.) So in other words, that's half a gold more than Primal Fire.

And here Alec had said that Primal Fire sells for the most... psh... both Primal Air and Primal Water is selling for more. Big whoop.

And with that, I shall begin my scheming... if I could get a bunch of Primal Airs, and then sell them, I'd be rich before I know it! Perrrfeect.

Wait. It's 11PM. Bah, let's go to bed.

~Next Day~

I wake up at 9AM, and rush downstairs to check the prices on the Primal Air, Fire, and Water.

WHAAAT?! My jaw drops to the floor.

Primal Air dropped 7 Gold, Primal Water dropped 8 1/2 Gold, and Primal Fire-- Primal Fire dropped half a gold... bah. All of my plans! All the money is gone!! Who the hell would put all that stuff for so low, when they could have made SO MUCH MONEY?! Oi vey!

Time to go, I decide. I leave. I eat. I go back a few hours later.

Whoa! Prices shot up again! How did this happen so fast?! It's down. It's up. It's down. It's up. Supply and Demand, baby! It all sells for much much more when people are awake, compared to when they're asleep.

Since the prices were changing so quickly (and drastically!), I decided, I'll make a graph of it! Which seems to support itself more?

Here it is:



Here are the color codes:

Red = Fire
Green = Air
Blue = Water
[Number]g, means "[Number] Gold"

Primal Air and Fire seem to be doin' pretty good, while Water is only goin' downhill. Geez, this is so confusing. I guess I'll just have to get both! ;)

(P.S. This is graph of the last five hours)

Fever

Oh, I forgot to add, yesterday. When I was on the trip, I finished Harry Potter pretty quick, so on the trip back, I was Harry Potter-less! So, I began reading a book called Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson (Author of Speak). Truthfully, the only reason I picked up Fever, was because of the cover-book picture... it looked so creepy, that I needed to check it out. (You can see the picture if you click on the link in "Fever 1793"). I learned it's about the yellow fever in '93, that killed off thousands of people. Me, having been interested in the Black Plague that happened so many years ago, thought this would be a fascinating book to get.

It was! It was a really amazing book. Being this one of the first books I read that wasn't by Janet Evanovich, who favors comedy, it was really hard for me to deal with the death of one of my favorite characters. I recommend it to everyone.

It also perked up my interest in the Yellow Fever that took place way back when. It was said that if you had it, you would be an outcast to everyone. You would be thrown out of the house by your own family, out of fear that they would catch it as well. You wouldn't be allowed into other cities. People treated you like you were a stray dog. Few wanted to be near you at all. The disease would most likely kill you within a few days of catching it. Few lived. I'm only reading the case that had happened in Jamestown, though... Yellow Fever is known to still be around.

"In the US: The last epidemic of yellow fever in North America occurred in New Orleans in 1905 during which more than 3000 cases were met with 452 deaths."

"Internationally: Yellow fever transmission predominately occurs in areas of sub-Saharan Africa and South America 15° north and 10° south of the equator. It has never been documented in Asia. Yellow fever epidemics were dominant in Africa from 1986-1991, with close to 20,000 cases and 6000 deaths. This is considered to be grossly underestimated because of underreporting. These epidemics commonly include 30-1000 cases and have fatality ratios of 20-50%. In areas of West Africa, 200,000 endemic cases may occur annually. In South America, an annual mean of 100 cases has been reported for the last 25 years. These cases predominate from January to March among males aged 15- 45 years who work outdoors in agriculture and forestry. The last outbreak in the western hemisphere occurred in 1954 in Trinidad. Yellow fever's range continues to expand, now including areas in which it previously was believed to be eradicated (eg, eastern and southern African countries)."

Can you imagine living in one of those areas...? It's scary for me to think about.

"Mortality/Morbidity: Yellow fever ranges in severity from a self-limited infection to hemorrhagic fever that carries a 50% mortality rate. Fatality rates are higher in the young. Early appearance of jaundice (day 3) indicates a poor prognosis. Transaminase elevations reflect the degree of hepatic injury and are prognostic. Individuals who survive the toxic phase may experience renal failure. Convalescence with symptoms of weakness and fatigue may last up to 3 months."

"Pathophysiology: The pathophysiology of yellow fever infection was largely inferred from vaccine studies in rhesus monkeys using the attenuated 17D vaccine. After inoculation in rhesus monkeys, the virus replicated initially in local lymph nodes, followed by blood-borne spread and subsequent replication mostly occurring in regional lymph tissue, spleen, and bone marrow followed by the liver, lung, and adrenal glands.

The liver and kidneys demonstrate the greatest degree of pathologic changes. Hemorrhage and erosion of the gastric mucosa lead to hematemesis popularly known as "black vomit." Hepatocellular damage is characterized by lobular necrosis with the subsequent formation of Councilman bodies. Albuminuria and renal insufficiency evolve secondary to the prerenal component of yellow fever, ultimately leading to acute tubular necrosis with advanced disease. Fatty infiltration of the myocardium, including the conduction system, can lead to myocarditis and arrhythmias."

Again, it scares me to think about. As I read in Fever, it said that if you threw up this black blood, that was the sign of Yellow Fever, and you were shunned by the community. You were to tie yellow flags around your door, indicating you had a Yellow Fever patient inside. Doctors rarely felt they wanted to treat those with Yellow Fever, out of fear they may catch it themselves. Most still continued their jobs, if they hadn't already fleed the infested town.

I'm currently unsure as to when the date of the first Yellow Fever took place. In Fever 1793, it says that it happened fifty years ago, which would place it around 1740's. In a Yellow Fever article, I just read, it says "Yellow fever was first recognized in an outbreak occurring in the New World in 1648." But if that was the truth, it would make the book off by a hundred years. Seeing as this book has been published everywhere with the number "1793,"and the article only said it happened in 1648 once, I'm assuming the book is right. But then the author could have changed it a bit to better fit her book. I'm not sure which to trust, so you'll have to do a little history lesson yourself if you want to find out for sure.

Wow. Who would have thought fatal diseases would interest me so much? Oh well. Time to read up on Malaria!

Top 20 Most Broken Rules

I know several of you read my mom's blog, but even so, I found this just too hilarious to not post on my own.

A quick and quirky ‘Top 20′ list of the most common rules broken in the English Language.

1. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don’t start a sentence with a conjuction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague.
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. No sentence fragments.
10. Contractions aren’t necessary and shouldn’t be used.
11. One should never generalise.
12. Don’t use no double negatives.
13. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
14. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary.
15. Never use big words when a diminutive one would suffice.
16. Kill all exclamation marks!!!!
17. Use all words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
18. Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed.
19. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
20. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

Ohh, geez, this list cracks me up so much!! As I said before, I've been see as a Grammar Nazi (Along side Kelly ;) ) yet even I break many of these rules!

Harry Potter reading spree

I want to announce to everyone that I never read, but that would be a lie... counting the millions of key-written things I've read over the internet, seen in RPing. What with the WoW-inspired poems, WoW-inspired stories, and WoW-inspired RPing that has gone on for months on end, I read all the time. But if you're counting real, published books, I've only read about twenty. As I said in a past blog (which time I had been practically bursting at the seams because I wanted to go into my Harry Potter week so bad), I only really read on trips. That includes car trips, and plane trips, where I am left with nothing else to do. Such a habit changed as soon as I was on my trip in Washington D.C. with my mom, dad, Alec, Kyra, grandparents, uncle, and his two sons (read in my mom's blog (www.ourjoyfullife.blogspot.com) for further information on said trip). We had been watching TV when we saw they were interviewing J.K. Rowling on her new, and last Harry Potter book, which will be released this July. My mom convinced me to try reading them, because they're "very good reads!"

My god. I read through the first one so fast, and as soon as we got home, I got done with the second one in one read. Five hours straight. The third one I got done with just a few hours ago, and I plan on starting the fourth one soon. The more and more I read the books, the more and more I begin to dread and even hate the director of the Harry Potter MOVIES. I'll start naming the many errors they made in the movie. (P.S. These are some of my peeves... little details found in books, that they don't seem to bother adding in movies)

1. Dudley and Petunia Dursley are SUPPOSED to be BLONDE. Not brunette. Blonde. Other than that, I'd say they chose the actors quite well.


2. They don't even care to introduce Dudley's best friend (which would have been SIMPLE TO DO), Piers Polkiss. He's hanging out with Dudley at his birthday. Again, it would be easy for them to have just said "This is Dudley's friend, who is being invited to his birthday party." But no. They don't.


3. While watching the first and second movie (which I had seen before I read any of the books), Dumbledore was wise, and solemn. Always knowing what to do in whatever situation, in the most reasonable and practical fashion. I was furious when they had to hire a new actor (because the previous one died, rest his soul...), and this was one quirky! He was... weird! And careless! Once I began reading the real books, I found out something very strange...

...he was SUPPOSED to be that way! Here's a direct quote from the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone:

Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!
"Thank you!"
He sat back down. Everyone clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.
"Is he -- a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly.
"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"

See? Quirky. And just to prove my point further, here's another quote.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.
"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"
And the school bellowed:

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

I learned to love Dumbledore so much. He's great.


4. They don't have Lee Jordan (Fred and George Weasley's best friend) in the movie at all, except when he's commentating the Quidditch matches. He's a bigger part these books than the movie gives him credit for.


5. They hardly show the pompous and arrogance that's been leeching out into Percy in the movies! Being a Prefect and Head Boy has been getting to his head. The long and hard change that he's been going through in the books. Nothin' in the movies. Nada.


6. Hermione is more of a know-it-all than they let on in the movies.


7. Snape has a larger part in it all, too! They hardly show his back story in the movie. **NOTE, SLIGHT SPOILER COMING UP... skip if you haven't read the books, and want don't want the surprise spoiled by me**

They don't even mention why Snape loathes Harry so much in the movies... they say he was never on good terms with Harry's father, James, but they hardly go into detail when they say that Sirius had once played a trick on Snape, that nearly got him killed. If it weren't for James who saved his life, Snape might as well be dead!

**Tiny, insignificant spoiler over**


8. In the third MOVIE, when they left to see Hagrid in his hut to see how he's dealing with the Buckbeak incident, they go by daylight, and don't worry about the dementors at all. In the book, they enter by night, under the invisibility cloak! WHY did they change it that much? WHY couldn't they have just done it under cloak? Really, it wouldn't have been that hard for the director. It's as if he is doing this to intentionally aggrivate me.


9. In the third BOOK, they have an entire lawyer case for Hagrid when he was being sued for Buckbeak injuring Draco Malfoy. They go to court for it! Ron, Harry and Hermione all read up on the laws of Interesting Animals to find something that would help Hagrid out at the court date. Hagrid ends up losing the case, that's why they decided to behead Buckbeak. But in the movie, noo, it's just "You hurt Malfoy, so we're gonna cut off that hippogriff's head. Done deal." Oi! They left out that entire chunk! Ughhh.


I think I'm done rattling on for now, but only because it's pretty much the same thing over and over again, with other characters have been ignored by the director. Egh.

Oh! While reading the Harry Potter books, I was highly impressed with J.K. Rowling. I had spotted little to no spelling errors in the book, nor grammar errors! But I learned that no one is perfect. As I was reading further, a simple mistake shown clear to my eye. It was the very beginning of a chapter, the first word in the sentence. "Professorr McGonagall--"

Professerr? Professerrrr. Hah. Yes, I was already informed by mom that it could be the publisher's mistake, but it doesn't matter to me. All I know is that they made a mistake! Bwaha! No, I'm not evil, I just knew that it would be impossible for her to be impervious to the common mistake that is a spelling error. So nyeh.

That's all for now! Tee!


P.S. So far, I have only read up to the third book, so please don't make comments on this that may reveal anything that hasn't yet been said in these three books. Thanks muches!

More weird facts and habits!

I was tagged by Rue!

~~~Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.~~~


1. I have an obsession with my fingernails. I can't help it, I love them! They're so beautiful! When they get chipped, I often even it out with a file, hardly ever clipping them. When I do clip them, it's only because A) So many have broken off, and they're all difference sizes, B) They are way too long anyway, and have a creepy yellow tinge at the ends of them, or C) I feel abruptly dedicated to guitar/piano, and that it would be much easier for me to clip them than try to play with them. Yes, when I do clip them, they're never too short for my liking. I can still see the white of them, proving that they're successfully surpassing the skin that holds them to my fingertips. The last time one of my nails broke was while on my trip with my family (I'll be posting a blog about it later), and in Williamsburg. I cried when it happened; it broke into my skin. "It's a disaster!" I shouted between sobs, while other people could hardly keep a straight face, as their minds straying to Hurricane Katrina as I mention disasters. I can't blame them, my fingernails don't quite match up to hundreds to thousands dying. I was overreacting a bit... but I still love my nails too much to let them snap without a proper mourning session.

2. My feet are almost always purple. From my ankles down to my toes, purple. By my mom, I've been told this is unnatural! But, I mean, if my feet are doing it, it must be natural, right? I'm not dunking them in freezing water while she's not looking, and then pulling them out and showing them off, proclaiming they did it all by themselves. I sit at my computer, writing whatever (like right now, for instance), and my mom comes into the room, and tells me my feet are freezing! Purple in color! They've also turned out blazing red, in other circumstances. Mom says it's because of poor circulation in my feet, but I've come up with several theories as to why they do this. For instance; I believe that when I am cold, my feet sacrifice their own warmth for the rest of my body, thus causing them to have a purple, deathly appearance. And in the summer, my feet freely accept the heat from the rest of my body, causing them to be red! My feet are so brave, and selfless... I've been told this theory is complete ludicrous (telepathically or through body language, of course. I do not mingle with those of rude demeanor). I still hold my ground and will believe such, thank you very much!

3. If I happen to, perhaps, find myself staying up all night (more than likely Dev or Josh's fault, I assure you), once it has reached five AM, I have an unbearable urge to write. Whether it be a poem, or a story, I need to let it out. Normally this feeling disperses at around nine AM (if I've managed that long without passing out). It's odd, but that's when I have written most of my poems. Don't believe it? Look at the time of my past poem-posts, and tell me if the time they were written was between five and nine!

4. I often entertain myself with new things. Example: on WoW, killing things brutally cannot hold my interest as it does for Alec. To continue without getting bored, I'll often RP with my friends. Something new always seems to come up, as it does exploring life in the "real world"! If RPing has lost its original, flavorful luster, I'll make a new character. Just creating someone with new, unique features, and carrying their own individual background story will satisfy me. I'll make a name for them, decide if I want them to have a secret, dark past, or perhaps a lifelong goal. Maybe they're longing to venture out and explore the world, but are unable to because of their strict teachers which decides they must stay put and study harder on their Priestly courses, or feel less pity for the creatures they slay for their ruthless Warrior training. Anything will do! As I'm sure you have found, I have a writer's urge to come up with new ideas, and grow bored with the usual routine.

5. I only really read when I'm on trips. At least, I used to, while I'll get to later with another post. I would have never even read the beginning of my now-favorite book series (Stephanie Plum series, by Janet Evanovich) if my mom and dad wouldn't have declared we're heading up to Moorhead to visit some family members. I read several books while there, and when we got back, didn't pick up another one 'til we left once again. Terrible habit, terrible habit... thankfully I'm getting better with it, and have been reading much more frequently now that I've found another surge of inspiration. Once again, I'll get to that in a later post.

6. I'm random. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to find that one out, but since I'm running out of weird facts and habits, I decided to announce it here. Ask any of my friends, and they'll kindly assure you of this fact being true! I hold my head high, proud that I may carry such a title.

7. I have GIANT peeves over the TINIEST of things. For example: I've been given the title Spelling and Grammar Nazi, next to Kelly. Flattering and offensive, I know, but I concentrate more so on the flattering part. I correct people without thinking, when it comes to both spelling and their speech. I know I shouldn't, but I can't seem to help myself! Oh well. I'm sure people will love me anyway, or else they'll face my wra--... uhm. Nevermind. I'll talk more about my peeves in the post about Harry Potter.

8. I love cats. I love them with every inch of my being. Yet, I'm allergic! It's painful how much I long to cuddle and stroke and love those felines, and having the full knowledge that I'd have to suffer the consequences of a running nose, and itchy, blotchy, reddened, swollen eyes in return. Half of the time it's worth it, though.


All right, to all those who read through all of my weird facts and habits, I tip my virtual hat to you and shower you with applause! You have outdone yourself by staying this long, and I am flattered out of my wits! Since everyone has been tagged by now, I'm not even going to tag anyone. I also have more blog posts to write, so I'm too busy.

Bye-bye for however long it takes me to write my next post!