The Fast Lane...

I'm having to write this in a William Gibson-esque style this time around.  I've got 3 tales that are actually interwoven and it'll come together at the end to make sense.

I spent the day with my sister yesterday.  She's a really fascinating woman of incredible strength.  I'm very grateful that the fates made her my sister, she's really amazing.

When I got up yesterday morning, I got ready and dressed to pick my sister up and go shopping for our Dad for Father's Day.  We went halfsies on a new watch for him.  It's beautiful.

So anyhow, I left the house to make sure I was on time to Nan's (she hates it when I'm late), and on the 95 from my house up to hers, there was something peculiar happening on the highway, seems as an antique fire truck thought it would be just fine to have it's slow ass in the middle lane of the freeway.

Ok, general rules of the road on a three-lane freeway...

Far left hand lane is the fast lane.

Middle lane is the folks who want to go fast but don't want to speed too horribly.

The Right lane is for the poky folks who want to drive the speed limit or below it.

There's this monster of an antique fire truck and it's in the center lane and all sorts of people were forced to go around it, even me.  I sat and shook my head as this exhaust coughing, pollution-causing monstrosity just HAD to take a spot in the center lane when it really should have gotten the hell out of everyone's way.  Much less to say, I passed it and as I did, I watched it in my rear view mirror and wondered what type of moron would park that thing in the center lane if it wasn't meant to do the same speeds as everyone else.  I knew there was something poignant there, but couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Next up, I'm not a fan of rap music, but the other night, I watched the trailer for the film "The Hangover".  We've had a running joke in our guild's raid in World of Warcraft for a while now about "The Wolfpack", and our raid leader giving one of our raiders a hard time and saying "he wasn't in the wolfpack" when in truth, he's a part of the core of the guild but doesn't really realize it and sort of takes it for granted.  Anyhow, on the trailer of the film was the rapper T.I.'s song "Live my life" featuring the songbird Rihanna.

Ok, here's the tune...



and here is a link to the lyrics...

Ok, T.I.'s rap is actually very applicable to raiding in World of Warcraft.  Ever since one of our guild's 10-man's acquired their Kingslayer title, two players in that group seem to think they're better than everyone else.  Lately, we've had those two people air their feelings to the rest of us and they've basically said that they're too good to bring their mains on a run we're doing for fun because it's not serious progression and it's a waste of their time for their main to go because in their estimation we're not good enough not to wipe all evening.  Hence, a wipe would be an insult to their toon and below their "stellar" play.

It seems as the acquisition of their Kingslayer title has made it so their shit will never stink again.  Ok, there's a problem there.  The same guy who basically called us all fail and that we were below him brought his alt Rogue along, died several times to stupid things and even wiped the raid once or twice.  Ok, well, hi, if you're going to say everyone around you is fail, you sure as hell better not fail (on whatever toon you bring) in front of people because you're going to look like shit. 

It's T.I.'s lines...


I'm the opposite of moderate, immaculately polished with
The spirit of a hustler and the swagger of a college kid
Allergic to the counterfeit, impartial to the politics
Articulate but still would grab a brother by the collar quick

Whoever having problems with, their record sales just holla Tip
If that don't work and all else fails, then turn around and follow Tip
I got love for the game but ay I'm not in love with all of it
'Could do without the fame and the rappers nowadays are comedy

The hootin' and the hollerin', back and forth with the arguing
Where you from, who you know, what you make and what kind of car you in
Seems as though you lost sight of what’s important with the positive
And checks until your bank account and you up out of poverty

Your values is a disarray, prioritizing horribly
Unhappy with your riches cause you're piss poor morally
Ignoring all prior advice and forewarning
And we mighty full of ourselves all of a sudden aren't we?


Ok, so there it is, my point of view laid out rather nicely by a very unlikely source, a rapper.  However, he says it well...


Paraphrased...


I'm not the most conventional raider, I'm off-beat and I'm not an "it's life or death if we wipe" kind of player.  I'm well-geared, well-versed in the strats and most people will agree, I'm a good player but I'm not arrogant enough to think I'm great.  Everything has nutritional value, so even if we fail, there are lessons to be taken away for every single person there.  No one is 100% perfect all the time.  But, I'm still young at heart and I've got the mindset of a young person, I try to make everything I'm involved in fun.  I hate fake people, opportunists and people who use other people.  That's definitely not my speed and I'll bust down on people who try to pull bullshit in front of me.


In my guild, if anyone has problems, they come see me.  If we don't get it solved right away, I'll find a way to solve it eventually.  I love playing with my guildies and hanging out, but I'm not in love with all of guild life.  I could go without the politics, without the drama and all the other rah-rah, but it's part and parcel of the game so I take the good with the bad and try to see the positive, but raiding ICC as a whole, like T.I. says, is a comedy.  We've got a 20% damage & healing buff that can make any group able to down the Lich King and let's face it, our first 10-man group to get through all of the content wouldn't have been able to win the final Lich King fight without the buff.  They said it themselves.  So it's really a joke that two of our Kingslayers are running around thinking their shit doesn't stink.


I actually think it's funny all this drama they're creating with all of their bragging and posturing, placing themselves up high as elite when the truth is, they're just as fallible as the rest of us, if not more.  When we brought them into the guild, they were in blues (sub-epic horrible gear).  We geared them in cream of the crop epics, we bled with them, we helped them out, but here they are telling us that we suck.  I think they should be grateful that we gave them half a chance to join our guild and welcomed them with open arms.  Like T.I. says, they've lost sight of what's important and they've made showing up all about themselves and not the team.


It's evident, their values and priorities have become out of whack.  Unhappy now with the guildies who's backs they rode on to get where they are, it's like what T.I. says, they've become piss poor morally.  I warned both of them three months ago to slow down or they were going to burn out, that things weren't life and death and that they needed to understand the guild is consistent.  Sometimes it's consistent in a good way, other times it's consistent in a bad way.  But there they were telling all the folks in the guild who have showed up and bled day after day that we're the problem, not them and as I listened to the song on iTunes, the line hit me like a ton of bricks...


And we mighty full of ourselves all of a sudden aren't we?

While I heard that person down on our entire guild, it was a moment I wanted to scream..."That's the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it?"  Don't bitch about people being bad players when you're not so great yourself.


And now we get back to the slow ass fire truck in the middle lane of the freeway...

There is a vast difference between perception and reality.  The driver of that firetruck probably thought that he was doing just fine in the center lane and everyone is going too fast...while the rest of us going by know...

Traffic is flowing.  The guy who thinks we're all too fast...well, he's the one that's too damn slow.

We're being poisoned by the pollution spewing from the slow poke in the middle of the road.
  
One phrase will cover it...

Get that piece of shit out of the way, we've got places to be and my hybrid Prius...well, I don't pollute half as much as some others do. 

So, I had a great day with my sister, encountered some rather silly people who overestimate their capabilities and heard a great song that put things in perspective.

As I've said before, "The Human Race Never Fails To Disappoint Me."  Well, ya gotta take the good with the bad and get the nutritional value out of it.

I'll be watching my speedometer and the folks around me next time I get into the fast lane, it's the least I can do.

It's all about awareness.  Some people have it, others don't, and the ones who don't are the ones who cause the accidents.