“Transmorgificate my Fist in Your Face” or “Too Little Too Late”

The Tier 2 paladin set was probably the best looking set Blizzard managed to come up with for the paladin class.

The tier took some effort to obtain, especially considering that all the pieces were given out in two separate content patches. The helm dropped from Onyxia and the legs from Ragnaros. But you had to wait until the release of Blackwing Lair to get the remaining six pieces. The set looked awesome, and at the time could only be worn by Humans and Dwarfs. No the Draenei’s stupid spaceship hadn’t crashed yet, and the Horde did not have Paladins (as the Alliance did not have Shamans – I know new players, I know that sounds frightening).

I had all eight pieces of the armor, and with each raiding tier, we hoped that we would get a set that would be as badass-looking as Tier 2, but to no avail. We got sets that made us look like a cross between Gundam and a retarded Transformer, but never anything that was as impressive as Tier 2. The Burning Crusade brought with it some hope and a purple (ugh!) version of the same set, but that was quickly replaced by high-end raiders such as myself.

For five years the Tier 2 set collected dust in my bank. I would take it out infrequently when we had a retro-vanilla-WoW party in Ironforge, but other than that it just remained in my bank, unwanted, useless, sad.

Two months prior to quitting WoW in May, I deleted the set to make space for a lot of other items I was stock-piling. Two months after I quit, Transmorgification was announced.

You can understand if I want to high-five Blizzard in the face with a frying pan right about now.

“Eid Mubarak” or “What the Hell is Eid?” or “Some Quick Statistics”

Off-topic post alert! But with so many hits on my blog looking for “Eid Mubarak”, I thought it might be prudent to explain what the hell Eid really is.

Population

There are over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. The following maps depicts what may be called “Muslim countries”. There are over 2.5 million Muslims in the U.S. alone.

The Islamic Calendar

The Islamic calender is lunar, and strictly follows the revolutions of the moon around the earth, which is why it is about 355 days (10 days shorter than your normal calender). There are twelve months as follows:

1. Muharram
2. Safar
3. Rabi-ul-Awwal
4. Tabi-ul-Akhir
5. Jumada al-Ula
6. Jumada al-Akhira
7. Rajab
8. Shabaan
9. Ramadan (First Eid)
   
10. Shawwal
11. Dhu al-Qa’da
12. Dhu al-Hijja (Second Eid)

What is Eid?

First Eid or Eid-ul-Fitr

Every year they celebrate this little event called Eid. Which comes twice. About 10 weeks apart. Allow me to elaborate.

The 9th month in the year is Ramadan. This is the month of fasting. Muslims around the world fast from sunrise to sunset. Fasting implies no food, drink, sex, nothing. You have to abstain. So forgive any Muslim friends you may have that may be on some serious edge this month. To answer the obvious question, yes you can have sex after you break your fast at sunset!

At the end of Ramadan comes the first Eid, also known as Eid-ul-Fitr. It is a festival of food, lights, and flashy clothes. And sweets. Lots and lots of sweets. As in Halloween is put to shame. Essentially Muslims try to make up for all the abstinence for a month in the three days of Eid, and indulge themselves to the fullest extent of the imagination.

Second Eid or Eid-ul-Adha

In the 12th month, Dhu al-Hijja, Muslims around the world travel to the holy city of Mecca to offer pilgrimage to Ka’ba. On the 10th day of this month, you are supposed to commemorate Abraham sacrificing his son at God’s command by sacrificing an animal and making three portions out of the meat. The first portion is for your family, the second for your relatives and loved ones and the third is for the needy and the destitute. This is effectively the second Eid, or Eid-ul-Adha, and it involves an equivalent (if not an added) amount of indulgence, gluttony and debauchery.

So there you have it. That is what Eid is! The first Eid this year will be on Wednesday, August 31st, 2011. So if you have a Muslim friend, wish them a happy Eid or “Eid Mubarak” and impress them with your new-found knowledge!

So, Eid Mubarak everyone!