This is the D&D shelf in my local game store. It’s not the edition I prefer, but I have to admit it does stand out better on the shelf than any of the other editions do.

Bullgrit

Both Calfgrits know about World of Warcraft from watching me play it in years past. Over the past few months, Calfgrit12 has become interested in the game for himself. He has a friend who plays it with his dad, and CG12 has been collecting some WoW sets by Mega Bloks. So we told him that if he wanted to play the game, he needed to save up money to purchase the game and to pay the monthly subscription fee, ($15). Well, he did it. A few weeks ago we downloaded the program and I created his online account. (I also reopened my own subscription account.)

At first we said he could only play it while I could be online in the game with him. I needed to refamiliarize myself with the online game environment, (that is: how the real-world people were interacting with others in the online world). (It’s been a few years since I last played.) The two of us started playing a couple of Taurens — him a paladin, me a shaman. We designed our characters, (I never liked to say, “toons”), independently of one another, and despite the dozens of possibilities, we ended up with identical bulls. Like we were related.

We played together a few times, leveling up to about 10, until I confirmed that there was minimal contact with other players in the game. And since he plays on the downstairs computer, right in the literal center of the house and family activity, where we can see everything he does as he plays, we started letting him play on his own. He now has about half a dozen characters of various races and classes, on both the Horde and Alliance sides, leveled up between around 5 to 12.

He only plays on Saturday and Sunday, usually for 1-1.5 hours each morning, if he’s been good all week. (Good school and behavior.) Occasionally I’ll get on and play with him again. Our Taurens make a formidable pair, and we really need to take on tougher challenges.

I have other characters I can play, but as they are all significantly higher level, (my orc hunter is 72, my human priest is 63), our teaming is not as fun as when our matching Taurens quest together.

As a side note to my adventures with my son in WoW, I’m amazed by how the game has progressed in my long absence. The top level is now 90 — almost 20 levels higher than I’ve played. And the higher level gear . . . holy crap!

I hadn’t really looked into any gear when one day, while just running through a city, I saw someone offer a purple item for sale on the general chat. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the name to see what it was.

A cloth item giving 1,733 armor, and ability bonuses in the 4 digit range? Holy ever-lovin’ crap-a-mighty! The best gear on my level 72 character gives bonuses in the +50-80 range. Granted, all my gear is green to blue stuff for level 65-70. I then went to the auction house to look at what other outlandish gear was available nowadays. I found a level 85 gun to compare to my absolute best item — my [purple] level 70 gun. Look:

Seeing this stunned me. Look at those numbers! 1,711 DPS compared to my current 128 DPS. I know a lot of my readers have no idea what any of this means. But for those of you who have played WoW, you can understand my astonishment at seeing this amazing list compared to what I thought was a decently good piece of main equipment.

Bullgrit

Bullgrit

I shaved for the first time at 15 years old. The occasion was my grandfather’s funeral. My step-dad showed me how to do it, and my mom took the photo, (much to my disapproval). This is a bathroom of 1983:

Now, shaving didn’t become a regular process for another couple of years, (at least) — it’s not that I was showing anything that would pass as a beard at 15 years old, but a boy has to start at some time. I don’t remember exactly, but the second shave was probably months later. At one point in my early 20s, I experimented with a beard. It lasted a couple of months.

Actually not very impressive. Kind of scraggily. Now here’s my best beard:

(That’s a bathtub of 1975. Yes, I had very blonde and straight hair as a child. Puberty’s a hell of a drug.)

Anyway, getting back to modern times. . .

Looking closely at that first-shave picture, specifically at the razor in my hand, I see that I’ve been using the same style/brand razor for 30 years: the simple Gillette Good News — a cheap, disposable plastic thing. (This is not a commercial post for Gillete.) Over the years, I’ve occasionally tried other razors. Just recently I bought a fancy-dancy pivoting thing with four or five blades, just to try it out.

Surely something that costs 12 bucks must be better than something that costs less than 60 cents. Surely? I gave it a few tries before passing judgement, but my final thought was that the fancier/expensive razor doesn’t shave any better than the cheapo thing. It was no closer, and no easier to use. In fact, I found the pivoting head rather annoying. I mean, having been shaving for 30 years, I know the shape of my face perfectly, and I can run a sharp steel blade over it quickly and closely without needing the tool to adjust. Heck, half the time I shave I don’t even use cream. I just wet my cheeks and neck with a splash of water, and run the razor over that. Quick, easy, and with sufficiently smooth results.

So I ended up tossing the “pro” razor in the trashcan. My little plastic toys have proven perfectly efficient for 30 years, and I figure they’ll continue to serve me well for another 30.

Bullgrit