Portia Drawing

I figured I'd leave you all with a picture I've been working on for a few days that I doodled during the update!

Without further adue.....Portia from Wings of the Goddess missions!

First colored and completed picture in a while, enjoy!

And just for fun, here's the initial doodle from my sketchbook

September version update!

FFXI's version update, primarily featuring the level cap increase and all sorts of goodies, spells and gear has arrived. ....Which I hope explains my absence from blogging once again. I swear I don't have a problem or addiction. Honest. I am not playing as I make this post, nope.

As an avid fisherman, I hope it's not sad that I'm just as excited about the Ebisu fishing rod graphic change as all the BLM updates. It is not sad at all. Right?  To those who could care less about fishing and have no idea what I'm talking about, the graphics for Ebisu were exactly the same Lu Shang, which is like the equivalent of getting an Aegis only to have it look like a plain old Koenig shield. But moving on.....

While leveling Black Mage with some LSmates. my AF+3 finally kicked in on Blizzard V for the first time. I was very pleased with the results, though at the same time sad it was only on a stupid exp mob.

Forever will the rest of my nukes feel inferior.

And of course who can forget the fun of running out and learning new Blue Mage spells. Took me nearly 2 hours to learn Harden Shell, but totally, totally worth it. Shame it's limited to Unbridled Learning though.

Bludgeon, Bludgeon, Bludgeon!

Next post will probably be about some Blue Mage Charged Whiskering fun! Stay tuned!

Let's pop some Land Kings!

This still irks me a bit, going to Behemoth's Dominion and having it completely empty while you pop Behemoth and King Behemoth. Though it does mean you can goof off and have more fun though instead of screaming "[Insert stream of obscenities here], WE DIDN'T CLAIM NID! SPAM CLAIM IF IT GOES YELLOW!!!!!" over voice chat at 2 in the morning.

Uh oh! Synergy Furnace aggro! HANDLE IT!

It's ok! We got this furnace link under control!

When did he start summoning frogs!?

After killing some of these... whatever they are, puppies? We decided to play with an angry dragon!

Some genius Spike Flailed him. Unfortunately no one died.

Despite not particularly liking the old HNMs being forced pops, I have to admit, it's much more fun fighting them when you didn't sit there waiting from 3am-6am waiting for it pop. (Now you just have to wait an hour for your friends to gather!)

Managing my Finances

Guest post by Jewel Cole

I have had to learn the importance of saving money. When I was in college, I took my fortune for granted. I was able to pay for school with scholarships and also had enough money at the end of the day left over for beer. When I left college and entered graduate school, I was in the same situation. Now, I have gotten married, am no longer in school, and have a bottom-level job that has forced to learn the importance of saving money. While tough at first, once you get the hang of couponing, saving, and searching for the best deals you begin to gain a sense of pride. Not only have I learned to save money at the grocery and retail stores, but I have also learned to save money on household utilities. For example, I recently looked at my cable bill and decided to go to directstartv.com and was able to reduce my household overhead. I have also switched gas and trash companies and saved over half of what I was spending. When you realize you have cut your costs and save money, you feel much better about spending a little on yourself.