Speculation and Steampunk

Nice hat.

"In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." - Alfred Lord Tennyson

My fancy turned lightly to love in the springtime. Now it's almost August and I'm ready for romance to show up already - the sooner the better. The last time I was remotely serious about a relationship was in March, and that ended horribly. It was doomed from the beginning, much like my attempt to reset Truegold on the day after the Molten Front vendors were unlocked... just a poor choice on my part, despite my dogged efforts to make it work. She just wasn't right for me, and no matter how sweet and patient I was, it would never have worked because she wasn't a good fit for me at all.


(cue soundtrack)

So, today I'll tell you about one of my early speculative ventures. I stumbled across this one right around the time Cataclysm launched, before I started reading gold blogs. Although I later found out that Alto blogged about it, I feel cool that I figured it out on my own. See that lady pictured up there? Wouldn't you like to have a stylish top hat like that?

I stumbled upon the following recipe, no clue why or how, but I did: High Society Top Hat. Check out the mats: Bolt of Woolen Cloth (8), Heavy Leather (4), Black Dye (6), Green Dye (2), Fine Thread (6), Polished Bronze Rivet (8). Wait a minute, what's a Polished Bronze Rivet? Glad you asked! It's a 1-3% drop from pickpocketing Cataclysm-level humanoids, if Wowhead data is to be trusted. I've never looted a single one; I simply identified it as the hardest-to-find reagent in the High Society Top Hat recipe, and decided to gobble up all the Bronze Rivets I could find on the AH. Who wouldn't want to outfit their bank toons with a classy looking top hat?

That's a dandy idea, to be sure, but where does one acquire the pattern for such fine headgear? Well, nobody knows, not yet anyways. In patch 4.03, someone asked a GM, and was told that it's not available yet, but to be patient. That was patch 4.03, and we're still waiting. It's still possible that it could get added, or it's possible that it will never be implemented. I've picked up 3 stacks of them at 5g-20g apiece, and I'm okay with that investment, even if I end up having to vendor them for 2s50c eventually.

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." - Wayne Gretzky

I realized why my love life hasn't taken off yet. I've been a huge flirt, as usual, but I haven't taken any steps towards an actual relationship. Since my failure in March, I've had a mental block towards actually falling in love. While it's true that I'll never get hurt that way, I'll also miss out on opportunities to grow and learn and love. I will always be of the opinion that love is worth taking a little risk.

However, that doesn't mean you can be reckless about it. The main reason why my last relationship felt so bad is that I kept trying to fix it when I should have just let it die. I was over-invested in it emotionally, while the object of my affections didn't seem to care one iota. In Azeroth, you'll get rich much faster if you take a few risks, but once in a while you make a bum investment. To keep this from wrecking you, don't invest more than you're willing to lose, and try to diversify so your not putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak. I could go out and buy 6 guild tabs full of pyrite over the next week or two, but that would tie up my gold that I would rather spend on other ventures. Other ventures, which will be the subject of other blog entries in the future. Stay fresh, my friends, and don't be afraid to try new things, both in the Auction House and RL. Just remember to invest smart and diversify.

Speaking of trying new things, in the past two weeks, I went on dates with three girls, one of whom is quite interesting, and will be getting further attention.*wink*