Wrote a thing for Gamerswithjobs about the Burning Legion expansion for World of Warcraft means for us players.

It's hard to explain in just the few words that fit in an article like that. On the other hand, I know it benefited from the sure hand of Wordsmythe, our editor, who winnowed out a bunch of detail that, while true and supported the main premise, got in the way of expressing it to anyone who isn't already giving up sleep over

Each day, as they slowly trickle the story and changes into every part of the realms, I'm finding more evidence to support my fears. But there is still a glimmer of hope.

I got involved with this harem-scaram scavenger hunt gone wild this year for the first time. While I didn't get half the stuff done I wanted, I did manage two that I'm sort of proud of.

First, we have my pet's debut heavy-metal album cover. You have no idea how hard it is to make my pretty girl and a canary named Cyril T. Flufferbottom look metal.  I'm kind of proud of how well it turned out. I guess all that time I spent helping classmates mark up their jackets with white-out in the back of the bus in high school was useful after all. I went whole-hog and had it printed up so I could make it into a proper sleeve that would, in fact, fit a vinyl record. After I submitted it, I framed that original and hung it up on the wall.

This next one's even harder to explain. You had to watch a Bob Ross episode and paint along, doing a time-lapse video showing that you did it and showing a comparison between your work and his. My daughter joined me, and we set it up. Things were a little interesting, in that I had a hard time finding some of his specialized stuff. What he calls "liquid white" is actually proprietary and not easy to get a hold of. Also, I've never painted oils before, so I didn't have any palette knives or the right brushes for oils. 

That didn't deter us. We punted with a mix of extender and white oil paint, and model kunai knives from an old Naruto cosplay we have around the house.  I also don't have a real "video camera" so we took the footage by taping my iPad to a floor lamp stem. 

It was fun, though, and as I say at the end of the video, they didn't turn out hideous.

It was fun. I want to do it again next year, knowing what I know now.