A long-overdue family status update, plus what TK did tonight

NineMoons family of Takhisis Faction in Carracci server
Wizard Radhanon + Scout Furyk + Bernelli Shandre
Level 66
Levitation + Full Support [maxed First Aid and Fortitudo] + Double-Gun Shot

Big plans for their future! I CANNOT WAIT to finally get to Veteran with this team, especially with all the stuff I've got stocked up for them!

***

Takhisis went to Colony Wars tonight and for one brief shining moment, there was THIS:





And then we got ejected by Eminence about ten minutes afterwards.

Oh well. We'll just have to try harder and harder every week till we get a more permanent colony!

***

For anyone interested in learning a personal take on Pinoy communities in MMOs, check this out:

Nine Moons: The Barkada That Plays Together, Stays Together!

It's my latest column at ScoutAreaOnline.com, and serves as a meditation on my experiences as an online gamer and often member of in-game and real-life friendship groups.

I hope you like that column. Send me feedback here, or at pj.punla@mediatrade.com.ph ^^

It's maintenance! Here's a game for you to play ^^

This game is guaranteed Safe for Work - but don't look at me if you get addicted!

Ever played the game Hangman as a kid? You had X number of chances to correctly guess a phrase, name, object, or whatever before the poor about-to-be-hanged guy got the drop.

A new version, called Hangaroo [click to go to the official site], burst onto the net quite a few years ago, and now the new version's come out. It's free and it's safe for work, and it's challenging out the wazoo - and not just because the kangaroo, who replaces the man-about-to-be-hanged, insults you for your wrong guesses!

So what is Hangaroo doing on a Granado Espada blog? Simple: the new version of Hangaroo now allows people to create custom games.

Enter: Project Granado Espada Hangaroo!

Watch out for this ALL NEW GE-based Flash game to be hitting this blog very soon!

[In the meantime, try counting the ways in which the Hangaroo escapes - or not!]

Oops and oops.

And once again I commit the n00bie mistake of turning my back on my mobile phone. Result: swish and someone's light-fingered hands have snatched it away.

So please do me the favor of sending in your mobile phone numbers for my new address book. My new mobile number is

+63 919 321 1713

Let me know who you are, of course. And if you're a guy what's secretly hoping to make contact with a real live gamer girl: my BF is on this blog too. ^^ Don't say I didn't warn you.

I could use a vacation, it's been a damn stressful week and it's not even over yet. [I work over the weekends. My only real days off are Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the better to avoid crowds.]

I wonder how long it'll take me to scrape up the money for a vacation. I'll take even Budget Hotels in the Philippines, I'm just looking to get away from it all a bit.

[But I'm still going to try and support seaGE while I'm away, if I ever do get away.]

Things NineMoons needs to do this week

To do:

- Buy A TON of GVCs and have my friendly neighborhood shop sell them.

- Do a full Technology Feature write-up on the Pinoy gamer girls phenomenon + the all-Pinoy gaming group experience.

- Write that Boss Raids article for the August print edition of Game! Magazine.

- Make level 64 or 65 make that 68 so I can use all the nifty armor I stockpiled already dammit.

- Begin Project GRANADO ESPADA HANGAROO.

My off-hours life is nothing but seaGE, even when I'm being tempted on all sides to try some other game. How some people can ever interpret that as being nothing but shameless self-promotion, lack of responsibility, or reckless and destructive action that goes against the game, I have NO idea at all.

[Excuse the mini-rant. It's just that I had to wait until my head was sufficiently cool before I could even attempt to get it off my chest.]

[And sorry for the mixed metaphor.]

Takhisis: the Brave and the Bold

WARNING Lots of pictures! But please do wait for them to load - they're fun and worth the wait.

Bonus points to you if you get the reference in the post title ^^

And so Takhisis Faction found itself marooned in a sea of humanity the day the members went out to celebrate its first anniversary. Sure, we're like a week and a half late, but you know how the old saying goes....

Words cannot express how the entire National Capital Region must've heard that it was our anniv EB and showed up in droves and schools and herds and I'mrunningoutofcollectivewordsherehalp at the Mall of Asia yesterday. Okay, there was supposed to be the final night of this year's World Pyro Olympics [super fireworks festival and boom-off], and since it was 31 May all the school kids wanted to get their shopping done, and it was the weekend after salaries were given out, and ... after that, I got nothin'.

But here's the intrepid group of Luzon TK members who did manage to meet up:


Hail hail the gang's all here. Standing, left to right: Rosso [my partner and a special guest ^^], Whiteships [our resident Feng Ling cosplayer], Lecat [the head XD], Fiksdotter, Nicotina, and RoseChavez. Sitting, left to right: Winterlake, NineMoons, Romanovna [yes, I know that's Nate Reclusion XD], and AlphaOmega.

There was also a simultaneous TK EB for the members in Mindanao, and I'll be adding the pics and details as soon as I get them. [Plz send me pics, VargasII!]

After a fair amount of time waiting for everyone to arrive - during which we ran into members of Outcasts faction, also out for a meet-up - we managed to draw up our plans for the day: food, fireworks, and ... KARAOKE!

My partner Rosso and I took the gang out for freshly cooked meals at one of our favorite places to eat at the Mall of Asia, Taste Asia. It was only after all the food got to our L-shaped table that we realized two things: 1) we were all ravenous by then and 2) we had all practically ordered the same things - we should have just done a collective meal, hahahaha.

When we tried to go and find a spot to watch the fireworks festival finale for free [w00t alliteration FTW], though, not only were practically all the people in the mall already jockeying for positions, but also it started to drizzle periodically. As TK is not big on getting wet and/or getting sick, we repaired to a TimeZone for games and karaoke.


Picking songs to sing for TK is serious business. Left to right: AlphaOmega, Mitchin, Lecat, NineMoons, and RoseChavez.

TK getting ready for fun with karaoke. These are two things that, in retrospect, should NEVER NEVER NEVER have been allowed to meet - but hey! A lot of fun was had by all! And hell I nearly ruptured something several times I was laughing so hard and having so much fun.


Takhisis Big Boss Fiksdotter gets the party started with Livin' La Vida Loca! [Seriously!]


Mitchin takes his singing to the next level.


NineMoons and Fiksdotter, with Romanovna under his cap.


Lecat sings his heart out.


Who knew Feng Ling could kick ass at karaoke too? Whiteships FTW ^^


Yes, TK had special guests at our EB. Sandwiched between Whiteships and the singing RoseChavez is none other than Kincaid of OC. And that's Lecat making the scene ^^


Fiksdotter clowns around with our guest from Covenant, Rivendel.


Romanovna and Kincaid duet on, believe it or not, When You Believe.


AlphaOmega brings the house down with Pare Ko! Fiksdotter looks REAL happy, doesn't he?


Rivendel: sign the man up for the next season of Pinoy Idol!


Romanovna's show-stopping performance ends the karaoke night!

I will update this post with links and further pictures as I was far from the only person there with a digicam.

Long Live Takhisis! Let's stay together!