We went to the neighborhood pool again today. After these few days of 100+ degree temperatures, the water was warm. Not “not cold,” but actually warm. In the worst spots, the water felt neutral, probably at about body temperature. In the best spots, the water was warm, probably above body temperature.

Stepping down into the water was surprisingly comfortable—no moment of even light shock or chill. When I dove in the deep end of the pool, it was like diving into bath water. The water felt almost thicker, but slicker, compared to cool water.

I think I can hold my breath longer in warm water, because I was surprising myself with how long and deep I could swim under. This excursion was a glorious afternoon. I don’t know if I could stand getting into cool water again. I didn’t want to get out of the pool; it was just so exquisitely comfortable.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

We’ve had three straight days of temperatures at 100 degrees or higher; August 9 made it to 104 degrees. It’s brutal.

I’ve been in Phoenix, Arizona during 4th of July week, when the temperature got to 110 degrees. That was tolerable, if not comfortable. Although, “It’s dry heat,” is a cliché, it’s also quite true. I’d rather be in Arizona at 110 degrees than in any Southern state at 90 degrees. Humidity makes 90 degrees miserable, and 100 degrees just unbearable.

The humidity during a Southern summer can get so high you can almost wring water out the air with your hands. Walking from an air conditioned home or office out into the yard or parking lot is like walking through a curtain hanging in the doorway. I wonder, sometimes, how can the air hold so much moisture without it raining?

And we haven’t had rain in over a week. Grass and trees and flowers are turning brown and wilting. It’s amazing, the air almost requires gills to breathe, but all the flora is thirsting to death.

God created the South as an example of Heaven, but he makes sure to include a little bit of Hell each year just to let us know the difference.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

One of my friends has a level 60 paladin. There’s lots of talk among my WoW-playing friends about how awesome the paladin class is. One friend, who has fought against paladins, calls them “screws.”

This paladin friend challenged my level 68 boar pet to a duel—just the pet, no assistance from my level 68 hunter. Okay, I accepted the challenge on behalf of my pet. I expected my boar to win, but only barely. If the paladin used her engineering gimmicks in the fight, I figured my boar might lose.

Well, we met in front of the Dark Portal, on the Outland side. The paladin is a human and my hunter is an orc. So we couldn’t talk in the game.

We both turned on our PvP, but neither of us could attack. We both kept getting the, “You cannot attack that target,” message. We moved the duel to the Azeroth side of the Dark Portal, and off the portal steps. We could engage each other there. Hmm. There must be some kind of non-PvP effect on the Dark Portal platform.

The first fight, the paladin pulled out a battle chicken and a mechanical dragon. She killed my boar pet easily.

The second fight, the paladin left her engineering gimmicks out of the duel, and still beat my pet easily. She healed herself from half health to full at one point, but that’s part of being a paladin.

I was shocked how easy it was for the paladin—eight levels difference, and still she totally dominated that fight.

Paladins are screws!

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

When I created this Web site and started this blog, my intention was to just put all my stuff and junk on this one page. Once a particular post aged past a month, I’d file it in the appropriate archive section: table game posts would go in the Table Game Archive, movie reviews would go in the Movies Archive, etc.

But I’ve learned that many people who come here do so just for the “general” posts, and have no interest or understanding of the gaming and comic book (and some of the movie) posts. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been sticking to posts of more general interest topics because of this. I have plenty to say about the various other “specialty” topics, but I’ve become hesitant to put them in the general section. The times I have posted about a specialty topic in this section, I’ve tried to keep the lingo to a minimum, and to write for a general audience, instead of the specialty audience. And that is a disservice to the topic and those who would be most interested in it.

So, what I’ve decided to do is keep this General section strictly for general topics, and post my specialty topics directly to their respective specialty section. I may, and probably will, occasionally post about gaming or comics in General, but such posts will be for a general audience. Look at my August 8 and July 28 posts as examples.

My specialty posts, put directly in their respective section, will be for those interested and versed in such topics. I can reference things and use the jargon without being concerned about losing the audience.

So, as of today, you can check the Total Bullgrit main page to see when each section has a new post. I’ll still post to General every day. For you, this all just means it will be easier to find a post that might be of interest to you depending on your preferences. For me, it means I’ll be writing and posting just a tad bit more. But that’s okay with me; I’m doing this whole Web site because I like and want to write more.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com