Extended LOA: WoW Edition

Holy crap, Nim! It's been almost a month! Where the hell've you been?

Right here, in my computer chair. Sobbing quietly as I stare at an empty computer desk.

Yes, it's true. My computer's been bust for almost a month. I just got it back a few days ago, but all is not well. The main problem is still sticking its tongue out at me and making PFFFFFFFFFFFFT noises at me (which makes it very hard to sleep, admittedly). What problem is that? It won't let me run anything that requires full screen. Yes, that includes WoW.

So I haven't been playing WoW since the Monday before Christmas. What have I been doing with myself, then, when I usually play this terribly awesomely addictive game? Same thing everybody would do without WoW, I guess: Learn a new language, write a thesis on Canada's foreign economic policy to be submitted to TIME magazine, end world hunger, that kinda stuff.

Seriously, though, you can get a lot accomplished when you're not WoWing it up. Even if you're not a hardcore player and only raid once or twice a week, that's one or two extra days you don't need to be home. I took a lot of that time to hang out with friends - watch a movie or two, continue to work on a side project we've been working on, or simply lounge the night away.

I've also begun to cook again, something I haven't done sine I left culinary school. I'm really quite proud of myself for this. I've been almost a year and a half out of school now, and I hadn't picked up so much as a spatula in that time. Starting up again made me realize that I truly do love to cook, and having everybody tell you how delicious your dish is is more of an achievement than downing Arthas. I'm hoping to get a nice meal prepared at least once a week, even once I get WoW back.

In the instances when I'm sitting around at home with nothing to do, I decided to begin playing through one of my all-time favorite Eastern RPG series, Suikoden, again. If you're into RPGs and you've never played any games in this series, I would highly suggest these games.

Now, I know I'm not the first person who's bee unable to play World of Warcraft for an extended period of time (or any period of time, for that matter), so I'd like to know what you do when you would usually play WoW, but can't.