Return from Adventures in Serbia and Romania

My adventures in Serbia and Romania are now in the past. With the exception of a non-working air conditioning in a hotel and the delays on the flight home, the trip went smoothly with many delightful and surprising moments. I never found the Serbia mafia or the Romanian Gypsies, but I did see a hairy Serbian man and say Serbian Gypsy houses.  In fact, based on the Gypsy houses, I think there are more Gypsies in Serbia, then Romania.

Example of Gypsy House

Apparently the Gypsies in Serbia go to countries in the EU, collect money, and then come back to Serbia where it is cheaper to live and build big houses.

Another Gypsy House

The best part of my adventures where all my friends. They made my trip fun and easy. Lots of details I wouldn't have been able to take care of due to the lack of my language skills, they dealt with for me. In fact, I let them set the agenda for most places I visited, and I left impressed with what I was shown.

Milan, Ana, and Adam took me to the Millennium Tower by the Danube in Belgrade

The stocks Adam and Ana put me in at the Belgrade Fortress

Cristina, Adam, Me, and Cristy outside the Parliament Building (The People's House) in Bucharest

As with most trips, I took hundreds of photos. Many more I will share as I expand on my adventures over the next few weeks, but for now, enjoy one more of my most special friend, Crni.

Crni, My Serbian Prince

Planning a Vacation and Others' Fears

After two years or no real vacation, I have finally decided to take a trip. Thanks to several on-line friends I have met I decided on a couple of destinations I might never have picked otherwise. 

I have traveled solo before, and even took a flight to Great Britain on September 23, 2011 with my mother. She had been a afraid to go after the 9/11 attacks, but I told her I was going with or without her, so we went and had a great time.

Anyway, when I mention the places I am visiting I am getting fearful reactions, often that have no basis in reality.  I will be journeying to Belgrade and Bucharest, the capitol cities of Serbia and Romania.

One family member feared ISIS would get me. I think she is confusing Serbia with Syria.  Another also expressed concerns of terrorists (as if we aren't at risk right here in the USA).

Another family member is concerned I will get exposed to the radiation from Chernobyl.  I have been trying to explain that Chernobyl is in Russia and nowhere close, but the person doesn't believe me.

I have been told both that Serbia is in Asia and in the Middle East. For the record it is Europe, and used to be part of Yugoslavia.

Tonight I had a friend tell me that if the Serbia mafia doesn't get me, the Romanian gypsies will. She did reassure me that I am too old to be kidnapped for the slave trade. Is that a compliment or an insult?

Another friend of mine added the fact that Serbian men are hairy, but make great lovers. I never asked how she knew this.

If you check with the US Government they tell you to avoid all large crowds and political areas in both Serbia and Romania. They also add that while in Romania be careful of clubs and bars where Americans are often drugged and robbed.

Thankfully, I have an adventurous spirit, common sense, and a good sense of geography (one useful thing of being a history major).  I know I will see amazing places and make new friends and have fun. I can't think these places are any more dangerous than Oakland and Eureka, California, both of which I have lived within, and both which are listed in the ten most dangerous cities in California.

 
 

 

Animals, Our Planet, and Twitter

After speaking to a friend recently who decided to call me a "gamer" instead of a writer based on my last few blogs, I decided to write about something different.

One of my daily endeavors is to find ways to protect animals and our planet's environment. One way I do this is my signing petitions and reading a information from a variety of sources. Many of these petitions I tweet for others to see, read, and sign if the wish.  If you wish to know what I'm involved in, beyond the game world (and Ina this is especially for you), you can check out my twitter account at

 https://twitter.com/HHobsonWriter

Just as a fair warning, many of the links lead to information that describe graphic ways animals are being hurt.

Sex Change test of League of Angels Game

Another experiment was conducted among guild members of Lady Evaine and Lady Leona. As I mentioned before the game does not allow same sex marriage, but it does allow a character to have a sex change. So we started wondering what would happen if one spouse in a married couple had a sex change.

Lady Leona's husband was willing to spend the diamonds and test this theory. Our first concern was if he could change back, so the first test was to see if one could buy two sex change cards. One can.

Next Lady Leona's husband went to use one of the cards.  When he did this message popped up: "You are married. Better Talk this over." Thus, he was unable to change his sex.

Though a bit costly in diamonds (which you usually have to buy with real dollars), the mystery was solved. There is no way the game allows people of the same sex to be married.

Lady Evaine Marries again and updates on Regal D and Lady Leona from League of Angels

Lady Evaine married her second husband about a week ago.  As fate revealed it wasn't her dear friend who had divorced nor her friend who would have needed to have the sex change operation. Instead she married the person who had been labeled Plan Z (for Zorro).  They are both very happy together. This is Zorro's (not his real game name) second marriage too. Though his ex-wife is still on the server, right after they got married she stopped doing things with him and chatting with him, which is something he really wanted. Evaine is very willing for an involved game playing relationship, so they are a perfect fit.

Unfortunately Lady Evaine's divorced friend quit the server. He has not returned in more than two weeks now. The lady he divorced has also quit the server and the guild wishes they could contact him and tell him it is safe to come back, but have no way to do so.

Lady Leona is still very content in her relationship and all is calm and joyful in her world.

Regal D.'s land is still too quiet.  I check on him daily, but his battle rating and level have now fallen behind Lady Evaine even though he was created almost 3 months earlier.  I keep debating on whether I should retire him our not.  I find it hard to abandon my first character, especially when there is a child and mounts to feed, even if they aren't real ones.

Happy playing all.

Quiet, but Never Dull Moments for Regal D, Lady Leona, and Lady Evaine on League of Angels

Just when I think my characters in League of Angels are settled into routines things take a sudden turn.

Regal D. got married!  This surprised even me in a way.  When his server was brand new he meet a nice lady. She sent him 27 roses in the rose event, the only roses he had ever received. He even joined her guild for a short time, but she was the only one in it active out of 30 people, so it went to a more active guild.

Well, another rose tournament came up and he thought of her. He checked their intimacy points, and discovered they had more than enough to marry. So in the hundred spaces allowed, he managed a proposal that read "I know we don't chat, but if you want the benefits, Will you marry me?"  Then he waited. About two minutes later he could the reply of yes through the system.

Thus Regal is now married to someone he doesn't really speak to.

The day before Regal married his lady, his sister (I've decided all my chars are siblings) Lady Leona got married to her knight.  He is very sweet to her and of all of my characters, thus far she has made the best match. She learned from Regal not to wait too long and from Evaine not to rush in.

Now Evaine's love life is still rather crazy.  One of the knights she thought would never divorce, asked her if he did if she would marry him.  After speaking it over with her dear friend (the one she had been hoping would have the sex change), she sent him a message saying yes. Three days later he divorced.

The lady he divorced was the once that tried to break up the guild and who had divorced her first husband and pushed him to quit the server. This same lady the day after her divorce from Evaine's new suitor, went in world chat and asked if anyone wanted to marry. Some pointed out they thought she was married. She got mad, and used many cuss words and derogatory terms.  One of the more senior players tried to get her to cool it.

Unfortunately this was four days ago and the suitor has disappeared. That is never a good sign. Unless someone tells you they are going to be gone, if someone disappears from the game for more than a couple of days, it is a sign they are probably not coming back.

Meanwhile Lady Evaine had another offer of marriage. She has been trying to decide if she should accept it or if she should wait to see if the suitor will come back.  Her sister, Leona's husband doesn't think he is, and neither does her close friend.

Another update on Lady Evaine, Lady Leona, and Regal D- Drama and more Drama

The lives of all three of my characters in League of Angels have taken very interesting turns.  I've been so busy trying to keep up with them, I haven't taken the time to report.  I will start with Regal, because as always, he has the least to report.

First off Regal's server is so quiet a pin dropping would echo for miles.  He changed guilds again. Though his new guild has lots of active members, they don't really talk.  During one Team Dungeon he did thank a mi'lady only to find out her puppet master was male. So they had a good laugh together as Regal's master is me, a woman.

Now to ladies Leona and Evaine. Leona is now getting just as much play time as Evaine. The tide has turned in the love arena.



So a few days after the new guild had been created more drama unfolded. Evaine still hasn't married the guild leader. Her two friends that are married have a falling out and get divorced. The knight then starts begging  Lady Evaine to marry him. Then he orders her to. She keeps telling him she is engaged to the guild leader and is a little upset he has been calling his now ex-wife a whore and a bitch. Her knight friend then threatens to quit the server if she doesn't marry him. She doesn't and he does quit the server.

While this goes down, the lady asks another knight in the guild to marry her and he does. They get married less than 2 minutes after her divorce from her first husband is final. Unfortunately, this was the knight that had showed the most interest in Lady Leona.

The next day Evaine and the guild leader finally get married. At first she finds her husband young and sweet, though often very quiet on-line. But he knows how to play the game and helps her on her adventures.Then things suddenly change. Though the player told her he never abandons his chars, he suddenly does with Evaine's husband. No word. No explanation. On top of abandoning her, he has abandoned their guild of loyal knights and ladies that followed him there. Many functions in the guild are locked down and nobody can get into them.


Meanwhile, the divorced and remarried lady tries to get everyone to abandon the guild. She thinks it will fail. She attempts to pressure everyone to move. A vote is held, but nobody wants to go. They are loyal and love the guild, even though the guild leader has abandoned them. So she leaves and drags her new husband with her. Her new husband hates his new guild so much that he comes back a day later, leaving her behind, but still married to her.

After being missing for seven days, Evaine's husband loses the guild leadership. It falls to Evaine who has been the only Deputy Leader for nearly a week. Then after ten days of abandonment, she divorces him and is now a single lady again and is the guild leader.

Lady Evaine has her eyes set on someone new, but there is a glitch. Though the player is male, the character is female and same sex characters aren't allowed to marry. So one of them will need to have a sex change operation (which is strangely allowed in the game, but same sex marriage isn't).  Of course, she isn't sure the other player and char are up for this. So we will see what happens.

While this is going on, Lady Leona meets a knight who really takes to her. She is the first one to help him figure out the game, and he adores her for that. He had asked another lady to marry him, but now decides he would rather marry Lady Leona.  Since his first lady is ignoring him, and doesn't really want to play with him, he leaves his guild and joins Lady Leona where he begins to court her and build up intimacy points.

Lady Leona and her knight should be married in about two days.

As for the guild, it is going strong. Four members have been gained since the one bailed and tried to get the guild dissolved. The guild also has jumped from Level 14 to 17 in that time span and went from Rank 6 to Rank 5. So much for the prediction the guild would fail.  It's thriving and growing faster then most of the other guilds.

It's like living in a Medieval soap opera in League of Angels, at least for those who talk and chat. I'm not sure what all the silent people are doing.

Thus, so far, it is much easier being a female playing a female char. There is a lot more talking, and at least for me that makes the game a lot more interesting.