Return of the BLM Army

Decent day today at work. Getting home was a trick, though. First, there was a jack-knifed truck at a major interchange. Then there was a multicar pile-up that reduced 5 lanes of traffic to 1. Then there was another accident on the other side of the divided freeway which, for some reason that still defies scientific reasoning, caused a traffic jam and eventual accident on my side of the freeway. It's like people see flashing lights and hear the sirens and simply have no choice but to stop and gawk. After that, there were a few fender-benders on the way home that had been moved off the road, but still caused people to stop.

I'm happy these people Darwin themselves off, but in a city of over 1.5 million, there's a lot of Darwining left to do. And they keep making babies! D:! It would be much simpler if people simply learned how to drive. But people around here seem as averse to that as they do to rain and using complete sentences. Meanwhile, the freeway is a parking lot, traffic is backed up for 10 miles and gas is scraping 3.75. This happens everyday. The city should slap a hefty fine on anyone found at fault in a highway accident. Maybe if some of these lunatics got kicked in the pocketbook, they would be a little more open to learning and using some sense and basic driver's etiquette.

After nearly an hour and a half on the roads, I got to McD's to get dinner. They ran this promotion yesterday for their new Chic-fil-A *erm* I mean Chicken Sandwich. Seriously, it's like they took a Chic-fil-A sandwich and stuck it in a copy machine. Figuratively speaking, 'cause literally would be kinda gross... Picked up a few of those before heading home, and I got home just in time to change clothes, eat and log on for static.

Speaking of the static, I think we lost McLeod. He's on WoW now and enjoying it. I've seen dozens (and I mean dozens) of people leave FFXI over the years, and my advice is the same each time: if you don't enjoy the game, don't play. Life and time is simply too short to dump money into a pastime you don't enjoy. While I'm kinda sorry to see him go, I'm glad to hear he's enjoying himself in a different game, especially with how busy he's been.

Anyway, we all geared up and set out for our typical rat race track. And each armed with a shiny new Anniversary Ring. For those of you that don't know, these rings came out last year during FFXI's 5 year anniversary and give a MASSIVE experience point bonus. Problem is that they only have 10 charges and no way to recharge, so you have to use it wisely. Well, this year they reintroduced the rings, so you can drop (if you haven't already) your spent ring and get a new one. XD Armed with a heavy experience bonus and sanction experience bonus, we started tearing into the rats and raking in the experience. The best part was that there was no competition whatsoever - we had the whole zone to ourselves the whole evening. Emmaline came out with her WHM to leech experience off us for a bit: good times. We went from about 8k from 65 to halfway to 66 and burned through 2 Anniversary Ring charges and an Emperor Ring charge. Awesome experience.

Tomorrow is my last day at my current on-site assignment. I'm thinking I'll bring in donuts or something. I've had a good time there. ^_^