Three Strike Rule...

~ “/sigh…”

Night before last was… well, one of those nights that give you reason to enjoy when things go right shall we say.

First, my wife had surgery last week. 3rd go ‘round on this particular operation and the 4th surgery in this exact same site… no matter how you do the math, this sucks.

So Lady Pain (I love her and she loves me, but he hates my mistress EVE…) is home and her convalescence is going well all thing considered, bringing with it the hope of full recovery. And it, of course, brings with it the caregiving she needs as she recovers, which I have no issue with… but it is damned hard to go through for all involved, most especially her.

She is, for the most part resting and recuperating… which means after homework, dinner, dishes and laundry and other such… I try and have a bit of a sit down for some me time, which now can, and does, get interrupted, often, very often, without warning… and I’d better be damn QUICK about answering too… She txts and expects, perfectly understandably, for me or Boo (dottir) to STOP whatever I/she/we doing and come right quick… and I do (notice I said “I”do)… but this can be, well, not good shall we say if one is say flyin Logi inna C5 site or mebbe, as I was night afore last, running C3 sites solo inna Vargur… or trying to respond to a ToO… (Target of Opportunity)…

My options are, of course, to simply not DO anything where a sudden txting, very similar to a DC, can leave everyone hanging… or I can just fly and pray… guess which I opt for? Yea… I fly man. Now let’s add to this winning formula for fun that there are simply times when no matter how hard you try, yer gonna fail. Nights when Bob, the God of Holes, deigns to take notice of you… and in the noticing notices that things have been going well for you… and decides that that’s simply gotta effin stop. And one has no choice but to accept the consequences… like this particular night…

I first logged on TurAdan and spent an inordinate, and yet quiet absorbing, amount of time working on his Forever-Q™. TurAdan is gonna be a UberScanner. He’s already inna ‘Stero, albeit a very poorly T1/Meta 4 fit ‘Stero, but skills are steadily clicking away in his now 80+ day Forever-Q™… I love being able to work my way down a fit or a role, dropping skills in in order of (1) importance to the fit/role and (b) by time to level… and then just close the skills screen and check notifications ervy now and again.

Then logged on as Tur(Amarth) and as usual I wanted to get PI runs out of the way first and while I am doing PI n shit we are all chatting in TS  as usual… Jor is setting up some PI alts, Sov is scanning somewhere, Tsra is… I dunno, I never know what Tsra is up to… and Endy is well, being Endy. After PI is done I’m agitating for us to GO SHEEWT something… anything… so I decide to try out my new Vargur. She is fit as a PocketDread for soloing C5 sites so C3 sites should be AFKable innit…

So I warp out to a site, where per SOP I am supposed to drop an MTU and BM the MTU for the Noctisising of the wrecks later. But, I am in my shiney new Vargur and I put off that step for a little bit as I start in on the site. I wanna try out Defensive Self-Tackling for a cycle or 2… Bastion Mode ya know… can’t move… be das bunker in space… but, the C3 Sleepers simply don’t put out the same DPS as C5 Sleepies do, so I just off Bastion and allow the Hardeners, Giant Repper and Giant Noses to do they thing… but I am all into my new ship… checking it out from different angles, F9ing the screen clear and taking pics, etc. all the while spamming Dscan and keeping up with chat etc.

2nd spawn arrives with Frigates… I turn on the Huge Smartbomb and all the little nasties nearby start bleeding… scheeet! I figure to speed up the taking down of them pesky frigs I’ll sick my droans on em too! Uh huh… ‘cept I really shoulda turned OFF the Huge Smartbomb first… but no, I dint… so I watch as my 5 Hobgob IIs lose all shields, armor and 50% of their hull HP on the first pulse… <facepalm1>… The Not-so-SmartPilot™ spams the Huge Smartbomb off and tries to recall droans in time but only gets to watch as the Sleepy frigs make easy scrap out of the poor near dead things… dear lord save me from myself…

OK, itsa derp, but not too bad, I treat Droans like what they are… smart bullets… they are expendable to a degree after all and I still have my PvP backup Droan… a lone Gecko! And that lil monster is a terror! So, dubble checking the Smartbomb is actually OFF, I launch the Gecko and sick him on the partially burnt up frigs and joyously watch as they melt afore his awesomeness…

Now I work my way through the site until all are steaming wrecks in the void and… oops, eems in my haste I fergot to bring the damn MTU… Ok, no prob, Recall droans! Align and warp back to POS to get an MTU… and… it’s only as I go to warp that I realized I had not yet BMed the site… <facepalm2>. I watch the lovely lovely wrecks, holding the approx. 35m ISK worth of Lewts and Slavage that this site is usually worth, rapidly disappear into the black off my stern while I am unable to stop my ship nor click a wreck or even open the places screen and grab a BM in space in time… and, of course, the site has despawed from the scanner window as I warped out. Oh fuk me.

I land in the POS and silently curse Bob the God of Holes… Well, what do you expect me to do? curse myself?? I KNOW it was ALL Bobs fault! He’s never liked me…  =\

Anyhoo… I finally buck up and tell the guys… I have to, the wrecks will be on scan for HOURS and someone will eventually put 2 and 4 together and get = Tur. They, my guys, my corpies, my good friends… supportive, caring, decent-to-a-fault guys that they are… of course LOL and rib me mercilessly… =P

Well, it is what it is and there are still sites in the sky and ISK to be made… So I BM the next site from the scan list (yea I BM everything now), grab an MTU and 5 new Hobgobs, then I swap out to my trusty ‘stero and head back to the site cloaked… I land and slowboat to a good spot well inside my Vargur’s range, make a Pounce BM, head back, reship to the Varg and head back out… And this time I do it by the numbers… Warp to the Pounce, drop MTU on the pounce, (dubblecheck that damned Huge Smartbomb is OFF) launch droans and start in on the site… NOW I feel confident this time things will go as they should…   yea   right.

OK, so I am running this site, into the second wave when Sov says…

“Ventures on scan! In the hole I’m scanning, heading to a gas site, everybody reship NOW!!” …

“Uh Sov, I’m running a site…” says I…

“Don’t care, finish it later, 4 Ventures! Reship NOW!” says Sov…

So I kill the last Sleeper cruiser while scooping the lewts and MTU and recalling droans… I’m eager for the Pew Pew but disappointed at the same time… I just HATES leavin ISKies sittin in the sky but, !!PVP!!

So I warp to POS, ask what to wear, “Dictor.” Sov replies, so I jump into one of my Sabres and warp to the outbound hole. Sov is scout, NC1M in on the hole and Tsra joins up… Sov gets us a warp in and calls “Jump, Jump! Warp to Sov, warp to Sov.” We jump and as we enter warp Sov calls out… “Crap! sleepers just spawned, Ventures warping out, everyone warp out on landing.” “Crap.”

I land, hit the warp-to for the return hole, my ship turns and starts accellerating and a bubble goes up... WhatTehFuk??? Sov, “Tur, you bubbled!” I look down and realize I had moved the mouse back down to the hub controls… and had inadvertently hit the bubbler… <facepalm3> oh godsdamnit!!! I turn on def and prop mods and try and burn out of the bubble knowing it is futile… having popped the bubble I am at the center and trapped with 2 Sleeper BSes… so it’s just a matter of time… and very little of that ‘til… Boom. Fuk… fuk fuk fuk fuk fuk fuk… I warp my POD out thru the hole and back to the POS.

I sit idly… thinking over the last few hours… and I realize, three strikes, yer out.

<facepalm1> Smartbomb my own droans…

<facepalm2> warp out of a completed yet unbookmarked site…

<facepalm3> bubble myself and get killed by Sleepers…

And not once… not even once did anything untoward happen due to what I had feared most, my wife calling me away. Nope, this night’s derping was mine and mine alone. I don’t rage, I don’t whine and I don’t cry… I simply thank everyone, say goodnight, log off and go to bed…

Mebbe tomorrow Bob will have mercy on me… mebbe not... Bob’s an ass that way.  =\

Fly Fearless, but smart… and see you in the Sky  =/|)=