I Sure Could Use Some Lemonade

With the Summer Doldrums in full swing, I've been busy taking care of some yardwork as well as other small projects. That doesn't mean I've been neglecting Operation Spread the Love, mind you, but I've had my mind on a lot of other things than just leveling toons on the Anniversary servers.

I may have to move Azshandra's hearthstone location
away from Darkshore, although it does provide me
a quick way of reaching Darnassus. The levels are
current as of July 9, 2025.

When the weather reaches 95F/35C with the heat index soaring to 102F/39C, being outside isn't that pleasant. I can't have honest-to-goodness real lemonade (sugar, you know), but I've made do with the "zero sugar" variety.

You know what also makes this weather miserable? Bugs. Lots of gnats and mosquitos and other bugs that annoy and sting and bite at you while you're trying to get rid of weedy shrubs that are choking out the shrubs and trees you'd planted years ago. I'd not really had a chance to maintain that part of the yard very much over the last few years*, so it had gotten into such a mess that I could put it off no longer. 

Hacking through the weeds with a reciprocating saw and a generic cutting blade** made my job a bit easier, but with the miserable heat on the July 4th holiday I was pretty much spent by around 11:30 AM. And I still was stubborn enough to want to finish cutting part of the grass as well before I called it a day, so I retreated inside and drank some fluids to recharge a bit. 

There it was, World of Warcraft, tempting me to "just go and play for a little while" inside the air conditioned house.

Because of course it was.

I'm still not sure how I fended off that urge to just play for a couple of hours away from the heat and humidity, but I finished my drink and went out and got the grass cut before mid-afternoon rolled around. 

***

The leveling process in Operation Spread the Love can feel like that yardwork at times. You know it's a grind, but it's part of the process. Once you get through, you'll feel better and more confident in understanding how to play your class. None of the quests in the L30s or L40s are earth-shaking by any stretch of the imagination, and to my mind that's a good thing. The world doesn't have to be in the balance to have an enjoyable time, and even if the grind can feel oppressive at times, once you get through you'll be able to look back at how the effort was worth it.

But that grind can get annoying. There's no sugarcoating that. It's also not helped by Mages and Warlocks rounding up mobs in the area and wiping them off the map while you're unable to finish the quests you're on. On days like that --and there have been a lot of them-- it's good to have another place to go to in the meantime. 

Such as Gnomeregan.

I'd originally thought I might hit L50 on toons by August, but that might be optimistic. Maybe October at this rate.

 

*Gee, I wonder why...

**Like an idiot I didn't go out to the hardware store and get a wood cutting blade until Monday, which then made the trimming process go much faster with a lot less effort. I still had to haul away the brush to one side of the yard, where it'll stay until I can break it down for removal. It'll likely take 3-4 weeks' worth of trash removal to get that stuff all cleared out.