My other hobby...or guilty pleasure

I have a hobby that I am not proud to admit most of the time.

I'm a gamer.

Nope, not PS3 or Wii or anything.

I play an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game)

It's called Everquest 2.

Have I ever played World of Warcraft?  Maybe.....for like 5 minutes.   It's so immature - at least in my opintion - compared to EQ2.  Nice graphics, but not as deep a plot line.  And a lot of younguns play WoW.  Older people tend to drift towards EQ2.

I just got my 7 year veteran reward on one of my accounts.  I have 2 accounts and I "2 box".  What that means is I play 2 accounts at one time.  I do that when I am not in a group.  I don't raid a whole lot.  The politics of raiding annoy me.

I have made some WONDERFUL online friends through EQ2.  I have met a few in person.  My closest online freinds are Erreck and Shelita - otherwise known as Crusher and Dayhumper (yeah...Dayhumper :p).

Do I attribute this to my weight gain over the years?  In part, yes, I do.  Sitting in front of a computer every night when I get home from work was a huge part of my life.

It affected my weight.

It affected my relationship with my family.

But, it's still a hobby.

Just not so much now.

Now it's just more of a weekend only thing, and even then, only for a few hours.  After I workout or play tennis with the boy, or go play disk golf, or walk with my walking buddy.

It's taken a back burner, rather than being high on my proiority list.

Days used to be full of "What zones am I going to do tonight?, "How much plat did I make on the broker today?", "Who the hell invited that person to the guild?"

Now, it's full of run, work, go to gym, walk, cook dinner, sleep.  And very little EQ2 time.

Do I miss it? 

Sometimes.

But it's always still there waiting for me :)

This is Faldur.  His real name is Mike and he's been away from the game for a long time due to health issues.  We all miss him :(

This was a hysterical death picture.  We were in a zone called Guk and we somehow all got stuck in the side of this box, lol.

This is my dirge, Kaydance Silentsong

Mereyne, my necromancer, and Bigsmaug, one of Crusher's alts.

Group in Solusek Ro.  We were working on a heritage quest.

Camping a mob (named character needed for a quest) in the Crypt of Varsoon.

Soloing in the Fens of Nathsar, one of my favorite areas.

Random Group

 Closeup of Mereyne - I love her colors.  I've actually pondered getting her as a tattoo.

Mereyne standing in Freeport, her home city.  They've changed Freeport and you can't have characters start there anymore, though you can still have a house there.

Inside Mereyne's house

Nereyne, my illusionist.

Nereyne, my conjurer.  I deleted her :(