Meme: What's that all about?

serenejournal said "Reply to this, and I'll pick seven of your LJ interests, and ask you to explain them. So here they are.

#filkhaven

Way back in 1998, when folks in fandom were getting on Fandom in a big way, there was a service called . TalkCity was a dedicated IRC service with an easy to use web-interface that let people create and moderate chat channels. Debbie Ohi (ohiblather) decided to start up a chatroom for the filk community. She named the channel FilkHaven, punning on Leslie Fish's "FanHaven" project. Several of us were hanging out there, up until the point that TalkCity decided to disallow IRC clients and put more annoying advertising in their web client than was really necessary. Most of us stopped going there as a result.

Some weeks after this, Mike Whitaker (fleetfootmike) posted in rec.music.filk asking if anyone every came there anymore, so I dropped by to let him know why we'd all left, but proposed that I could set up a private IRC server on my own server, and we could get folks to move there where we could control the access and keep out all the annoyances that public IRC space provides. He said "I'll do you one better. We can both set up servers and network them together." And that's how FilkNet was born. (TalkCity is still there, but I have no idea who uses it.)

There are people who used to hang out on #filkhaven that don't any longer, and I miss them (hint), but It's still a great group of people that make my day better.

jedimud

Long before there was World of Warcraft and Everquest, there were muds, mutli-player text adventure games. (There were also social online text games called MUSHes, of which Second Life is the current graphical descendant). Jedimud is one of the longest-running DikuMUDs still in existence, having launched in 1992 and run more or less continuously since. The game is still there today, though currently without a coder to continue developing it. (Anyone know a good, masochistic C coder?) Although I'm still the implementor, I really haven't played the game in quite a while, but it remains the first online community I helped to foster, and many people important to me still make it a virtual home.

sapiosexuality

If you take all the people that I'm dating, and all the people I'm attracted to, and all the people from my past, you'd be hard pressed to find anything in common with them physically. But each of them is devastatingly intelligent. I'm attracted to smart people, and I was pleased to come across this word which coined my orientation so neatly. I don't know who coined this one originally, but I snarfed it for my own use the moment I first heard it.

three weird sisters

Three Weird Sisters is an acoustic folk/filk band comprised of Brenda Sutton (ladyat), Theresa Powell (weirdsister), Gwen Knighton (telynor), and Mary Crowell quadrivium). They are all dear friends of mine and make wonderful, harmony rich music with interesting lyrics. I've played roadie for them in the past. You check them out on their webpage and on Myspace. Better yet, buy their albums. And their solo albums. And go to their concerts, and....sorry, got carried away. :) They are fab, though. Check 'em out.

unix

Unix is a computer operating system. Since I make a living as a Unix Systems Administrator, this is obviously something that i'm very interested in, though unlike some people, I don't make a religion out of it. The Christians say that Jesus is coming back, but I seriously doubt He's decided to manifest as Linus Torvalds. :)


zen tourism

I am notorious for refusing to make any more plans for a vacation than I have to. Making lists of things to do and schedules of when to do them make me cranky, stressed, and irritable. Since I'm usually more interested in seeing particular people than sights or events, I much prefer to show up, and then just do whatever seems like fun at the moment. I coined the phrase "zen tourism" to reflect this basic attitude of just going with the flow while traveling, and both the phrase and the attitude have served me well.

zoos

I think animals are nifty, and enjoy seeing them in person. Short of taking safaris, the best way to do this is to go to a zoo or aquarium. kitanzi and I Have been members of ZooAtlanta for some years, and pay extra for the family membership that allows us to take kids in; so we can play Aunt and Uncle to our extended adopted family when they come to visit.

SONG: Max Level Newbie

Several months ago, I finally gave in to the lure of the worlds most popular online RPG and started playing World of Warcraft. (You can find me on The Venture Co server as Pryderi.) For months, I worked my way up to level 70, meeting lots of cool people along the way, and finally, about three weeks ago, I finally reached that exalted summit. One of the interesting things about WoW is that, unlike a lot of games where you hit the level cap and wonder "OK, now what?", there is a whole complex set of challenges designed especially for the top level characters. So rather than being the end of the journey, max level is a new beginning.

Of course, it's possible for people to get all the way to max level without ever really learning to play your character effectively, which becomes painfully obvious to the people you end up in groups with during endgame content. I try very hard not to be one of those players, but I got the idea to write a song about the types of players everyone dreads teaming up with. This may not make sense if you don't play the game, but hopefully the meta-joke at least works outside of context.

I apologize in advance for inflicting yet another parody of this tune on the world, but it fit too perfectly.

Max Level Newbie
by Rob Wynne
TTTO: "I Am The Very Model of A Modern Major General" by Gilbert and Sullivan

I am the very model of a Warcraft Newbie 70
I've never been on raids, but I insist that I would like to be
I know the kings of Azeroth, but what they drop's a mystery
From Netherstorm to Shadowmoon, no one has ever heard of me
I'm very uninformed about the way to play my character
And if your toon is female, I will prob'ly grin and hit on her
On every pull at the worst time, I will hit tab and free the sheep
And halfway through the boss fight, i'll be in a corner fast asleep

I AFK in battlegrounds, thats how I got my purple gear
The stats don't match my build, but I still like the way that I appear
In short, you see I have no clue and everyone I know agrees
I am the very model of a Warcraft Newbie 70

I've been to Ironforge, and yet I do not know the tram exists
I pester folks on general to take me out to Tanaris
Although I've never played your class, if we team up it won't be long
Before I tell you all the things I think that you are doing wrong
Invite me to your group and i'll insist that you should summon me
Then when you do I'll ask for food and other things that I might need
Before the pull has been discussed I rush right in to start the fray
But when the fight gets out of hand I am the first to run away

I ninja loot by rolling need on every drop that's green or blue
And if you haven't kicked me yet, I'll do it on the epics too
And so, you see why everyone in Shattrath City laughs at me
I am the very model of a Warcraft Newbie 70

My warriors try tanking with no shield and a two handed sword
My priests will heal you only right up to the point that they get bored
My rouges pickpocket every mob and cause the pull to go awry
My shamans never use their totems even when you ask them why
My warlocks never look to see what's nearby when they cast a fear
My druids always go to dungeons wearing the same set of gear
My paladins cast random seals and never bring a judgment down
My hunters pets chase random mobs and during fights just run around

I run from PVP but I will gank you when your back is turned
Although I post in forums, I don't read them so Ive never learned
That while I claim that I'm the greatest player you will ever see
I am the very model of a Warcraft Newbie 70