It has been an amazing and humbling and rewarding experience, being able to champion something that I desperately believe in. The AbleGamers Foundation is an amazing cause – an advocate for equality in gaming. Although I had to cut my time short, due to other circumstances… the 12 hours we DID have was just fun! Whether it be bonking the widdle wabbit with the kind folks of AIE, to chain LFR’ing pretty much everything (and I got the ToT achievement!) to winding down by making things in minecraft… and creating a ToC style game where a kind gentleman showered us with zombies and skeletons to kill us repeatedly.

It’s powerful, seeing so many just RT everything I said, and the encouraging words everyone left, whether it be in a tweet, email, or Skype. I cherish each and every single one. To those that came along with me through chain ToT, that was insanely fun. To be honest, I didn’t do much in there yet, so it was also a learning experience for me.

To those that donated, your donations are greatly appreciated by myself, and the entire AbleGamers crew.

To those that RT’d, sent me love in other ways, I greatly appreciate it.

And simply to our World of Warcraft community that helped me raise $652 (at the time of this post) to help out a magnificent group of people?

I love you.

Don’t forget about this moment when we all stood together. You can help out the foundation by volunteering here.

It is the highest honour having 3.5k followers following little ol’ me on the Twitters. {◕ ◡ ◕}

Being the Sha is taxing, but so, so rewarding. Being able to be a small reprieve, a rest break if you will… it means so much to me. It is a beautiful, organic thing, to have all of these friends that care about each other. I want to make our worlds a much safer, beautiful, safe place. Together, we’re making Azeroth and Earth that much more special.

Sometimes, it’s also taxing.

I announced my “hiatus” of sorts two weeks ago to give myself permission to take a break for my soul to have a nice rest. I poured my heart and soul into being the Sha – without realizing that I needed to have “me” time.

Hi, I’m the Sha of Happiness. But I’m also human.

I’ve got an invisible illness that nobody can see, so they feel that it’s necessary to say. “Well, you look fine!”

I’m not. But I’m getting there, partially because being the Sha symbolizes the hope, the light, the beauty that is behind each and every single person… and I’m finally realizing that it’s been in me all along, too. We all need somebody to lean on, and this is why our community is so great. We cheer each other on when there’s something happy, or if our guild progresses… but we also grieve in support when one of our precious friends makes the next big journey… we all LOVE each other.

I have depression.

I’m getting help.

I’m on my way to being okay.

Let’s lean on each other, and promise each other that we’ll catch each other if you’re falling down, okay? And there is catharsis in finally admitting something to yourself, ya know?

♥

I hope that all of my friends understand it’s fine to realize that sometimes you can’t make it on your own. {◕ ◡ ◕}

(P.S. I’m not even sure that the “hiatus” is still existing, but I’m working on finding a balance that is beneficial to all of us.)

For me, this was kind of hard to do. I took the name of the dish seriously, but I also wanted to balance the flavours of salmon and the warmth of spices. Hint of heat, but it was more about the savory flavour to caress the salmon, and I think I found the harmony.

I kind of based it off of a teriyaki base, but with more punch. With that in mind, here goes nothing~ {◕ ◡ ◕}

1/2 white onion
1 portion salmon.

Dice the onion and set aside. Sprinkle salt on top of salmon. Roast the salmon at 375 degrees until done (my oven takes 4 minutes to do so)
Alternative: Cook in pan, skin side down. You’ll see the flesh turn from raw to cooked. Poke gently, should be firm. At the last minute, sprinkle some salt, flip it, 30 seconds later – put on plate.

Sauce:
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon sesame seed oil
1 tablespoon miso
1 teaspoon red chili paste (put more if you can tolerate the Heat)
ginger, garlic – to your preference…

Stir together.

Put 1 tablespoon of butter, and dump the onions in. Sprinkle some salt, let caramelize. Break up the salmon, put into pan with onions. Med-low heat. Dump sauce in, stir. Take liberty with the salmon – I like smaller chunks so I smash them, but you can have it as big as you want, or baste the sauce onto the salmon when you’re roasting the salmon, to be honest~ ♥

Let me know when you give it a try!!

Peanut Butter, 1/4 cup
Miso paste, 1/4 cup
Sesame seed oil, 1/4 cup
Sake, 1/8 cup
Garlic, 1 tsp
Ginger, 1 tsp
Soy sauce, 1 tsp
Red chili paste, 1/2 tsp

Skewered items:
Chicken (I used 1 thigh)
Onion, 1/2
Asparagus, 10… what’s the counter for this? Trees?
Optional:
Bell peppers of any variety
Whatever you want, basically.

Directions:
Skewer bite sized pieces, alternating chicken with veggies.
You’ll want a shallow pan so you can dump the sauce to marinade with.
Mix sauce.
Dump on top of skewers.
Let rest for 1-2 hours.
Barbeque.

Let me know how it goes! {◕ ◡ ◕}

Sometimes, we just need to sit back and relax.

Sometimes, we need to do more than that…

I have loved every single moment of being the Sha, and will continue to love being the Sha. I’m not lying when I say that I was debating taking an actual hiatus for the past two weeks. Didn’t help that I have a lot of RL issues at the moment, and still do have them… and I don’t want to force myself to be the Sha when I can’t be happy myself, ya know? {◕ ◡ ◕}

A part of the issues that I face daily is my disability – now, I don’t consider myself disabled… but it’s something invisible on the outside. Nobody is a perfect being, not even I. We all have our own invisible Sha inside us – it’s up to us to determine if it’s Happiness, or any other emotion. I also have some extenuating circumstances in my life right now, that I need to prepare for; but if you can spare some well wishes to my family, it would be greatly appreciated.

Being the Sha brightened my life. I was in a very dark place, and with everyone’s help, the Sha blossomed into a beautiful being. Many of you have confided in me your secrets, concerns, worries about life… I am proud and honoured to be the confidante and the secret keeper.

It was an ill timed announcement, but then again – when is life fair?

I’ll be back, I promise. ♥ Let the Sha live in your heart.

I love you all, and I am so so proud of you all.

See ya in a bit! It’s never good bye~

p.s. The Charity stream will still happen. First weekend of May, to benefit my www.ablegamers.com community, and I hope you’ll be there! {◕ ◡ ◕}

p.p.s I’ll still be reading my email, any interactions, thingies of the sort. Keep me in the loop for anything! {◕ ◡ ◕}

Taken from Blizzard Entertainment’s mission statement.

Great ideas can come from anywhere. Blizzard Entertainment is what it is today because of the voices of our players and of each member of the company. Every employee is encouraged to speak up, listen, be respectful of other opinions, and embrace criticism as just another avenue for great ideas.

 

I wanted to take special note of this today. Grab a cup of your preferred beverage, and come with me to explore what this means to me…

Are you back yet? Okay, here goes.

Every voice matters.

Whether it be the shy being that joined your raid for the first time. Many stories he’s heard in the inn recounting how the seasoned veteran’s adventure went… How do I live up to this? As he wanders in uncertainty, please extend a hand and introduce him to everyone. Make your voice count. Feast before vanquishing the world of one of it’s meanies. When you’re in the strategy planning phase, make sure everything is clear. Every voice matters. Chime in when you’re feeling lost, or if you need to run off to the side to void your dooks… Or even asking the mage to magically whip up a bunch of goodies. {◕ ◡ ◕}

This also applies to your world, too!

Reading everyone’s comments on twitter… It’s mostly positive… but I want to try to make it a lot better. Even with little ol’ me. But I do understand that positivity at 100% isn’t probable (after all, you’ve met my brothers…) but let’s try to make it a constructive positive energy, alright?

Every voice matters… but saying it in a constructive manner presents your side in a much more feasible manner, rather than profanity laden sheer RAGE. That’s not cool. But accept it with grace; the trials and tribulations of humankind means that nobody is perfect – all of us are far from it. Some may seem like it on the surface level, but remember that we all have our own struggles, whether it be in depth, or on the surface level. (Concern for Azeroth’s inhabitants; cookies)

I’m talking about our sister universe, kinda like Outlands but further away… it’s called Sanctuary. Our friends that work tirelessly to make sure that Every Voice Matters is a pulsing, tangible feeling of passion in tune with their heart, whether it be from those that maintain the balance, or the Nephalem that fight valiantly, and in pursuit of what their heart leads them to… (Hi Vaekittybatdog, floaty Lylirra, and Grimmy fur-ball and everyone else~)

Someone really important moved to a different realm of possibilities. But instead of farewells, the Nephalem conducted themselves like my brothers had possessed them! While I love my brothers… it’s not constructive to a discussion… And this Champion should have received well wishes that a hero truly deserves. Nobody deserves those vile messages spewed at him. Nobody.

Every voice matters… when it’s constructive.

Here is a man that invested his blood, sweat, and tears into bringing Sanctuary to life… taking the strands of many elements and weaving it into being, like Nozdormu once did. Many nights have been consumed – a sacrifice willingly made so that the Nephalem can rise to conquer once more… a pursuit of whatever they wish to chase. Please, everyone. I beg of you to open your hearts and wish him well on his future endeavors.

I will stand by the people that have brought me to life; all of you… and Blizzard.

Justice is not served by slinging vitriol at one of many beings. Take the passion that you have and present it in a manner that is conductive. I can’t stress this enough. Don’t push the blame around. Own up to what your feelings are. Ask what really matters.

Every voice matters… your passion matters.

We are all brought together under one sky. Our visions do not differ, whether we look up at the sky in Sanctuary, on the shores of the Krasarang Wilds, or stepping out of the Cantina. Everyone at Blizzard is fueled by Passion. Of the users, of the myriads of people that thrive with their passion for each respective world, of the people that represent everyone, of those that love and live every step and weave intricate stories and elements that in due time, will unravel and shine brilliantly.

Every voice matters. The question is… how will you make it count?

Think on that for a while, and chime in. I’ll be here. {◕ ◡ ◕}

It gets better.

So a few days ago, I went to this AWESOME art gallery that some of my human friends took me to! It had pretty pictures and lots of nice people. Good good hugs and good smelling people~ {◕ ◡ ◕}

I think that the most awesomest thing is that a LOT of people united because we all believe in Blizzard and our amazing community. There was joy from those of like factions, and everyone put their weapons aside to just have fun and revel in the glorious art from the masters themselves~

I also met some sweet people… not limited to, but including Mr. Crithto (who was tall and stuffs), Mr. Zarhizzle (again, tall.), Pretty Candle (amazing hugger and just awesome~!), Madame Kitty-doggy (again, amazing hugger and sweet! No claws that time), and lots and lots of other people too! {◕ ◡ ◕} Like the awesome and pretty smelling Predzor and the moonkin herself, Mahoumelonball! Not to mention Lyndsi (so so so pretty and cute like a gnomie with sugar!) And our friends at Darkmoon Herald! And Horde For Life~ (We had kafa together, but I had coco because… Kafa that late makes a Sha awake for soooooooooooooooo long!

The best part? Daddy (?) Metzen! {◕ ◡ ◕} He said I was awesome… and then I swelled up with the happy feels~

There were classes held when the people who make Azeroth, Sanctuary, and Char exist. These people are essential for all of the amazing visuals that you and I encounter… like this for example!

Whether you are Horde, Terran, or Nephalem – it’s enjoyable for all!
(Runs through February 3rd… for more information, link at the bottom will help.)

For more information: Official World of Warcraft Blog
Gallery Nucleus (our gracious host!)
SIGNED BOOKS!