A Very Merry UnBirthday-UnChristmas-UnNewyears to DOOT!

I log in to start collecting wood, cause EVENTUALLY (and by that, I mean like maybe in two years) I'll be able to get a coveted "Permanent Hair Stylist Contract," which will allow any character on my account the ability to change their hairstyles on a whim.  I've pined for this thing since it came out.  For an alt-o-holic like me, it's the most amazing thing in the game.  Sure, there are pretty staffs and legendary weapons and such, but this thing... this thing is a Fashion Wars dream come true.  It's not available to buy in the gem-store, and it's a crazy-rare drop from opening Black Lion chests.  My only course of obtaining one of these was to spend something like $250 USD or save up gold in-game.  This also meant not spending any in-game gold.  That really sucks when there's pretty weapons that match your character perfectly that have a limited time lower price tag.  After a few weeks, their price skyrockets, so it's really difficult to NOT buy them, even when they're PERFECT for a certain look you have on a character.  At first, before I was seriously saving, I would fall into the pit of buying one or two, which set me back alot, and so much further away from obtaining the Perm Hair Contract.

But, then there came a point where I decided to actively save specifically for this item. Unfortunately, time from being a mom and wife and a full time job really stopped me from collecting mass amounts of gold.  Then, there's the knowledge factor: I wouldn't really spend time on researching what was on and selling, or where to obtain gold from, what people were doing to get gold, etc...  A guildmate of mine was kind enough to show me a few tricks on logging in every day to collect certain materials and that helped tremendously.  Still, I wasn't doing so hot with my income to playtime ratio, and I fell back into the rut of just playing the game and not worrying about the amount of income I was making.  This is good for me, since GW2 is really an escape from reality / RL problems.  But still, that damn holy grail kept calling me.

I recently attempted a (somewhat exploit in the game's mechanics) where you jump from one instance of the map to another, looting a successful meta-event each time.  This can earn you tons of gold, and I'm really thankful to another guildy for showing this to me.  However, it does take alot of concentration, and with a little one constantly interrupting the process, it would make it extremely difficult to continue.  Furthermore, I do believe the developers will soon patch this method, since the rewards weren't initially meant to be collected this way.

Which brings me to today:  I logged on, expecting to do a few hours of collecting/gathering working towards my goal.  I was immediately bombarded by guildmates asking me to come to the guild, if I could meet them, etc...  This came just as I decided to try out a new run to get additional gold.  Kinda frustrating cause I was in an area I didn't know that well, while having multiple conversations about getting me to do stuffs :)  Ah, the delimas of being a Doot. :P  I kept telling everyone I was trying to finish up a gathering run.  Suddenly, guildchat broke out into a tug-of-war for who my time was to be devoted to first.  LOLs.  These guys...



SO, I finish my run and decide to try to meet the first people that messaged me at the guild hall, then go off to everyone else from there.  Because I was so distracted with chat, PMs & my son, i didn't even look at my friend's list to see where everyone was.  I just know I was going to the GH as my first stop.  When I get there, everyone's encircling poor little Doot here, and I immediately ask, "Is this an intervention?"

I received a mail message, clicked on it and everyone started jumping around like crazy people!  The message read:

(had to take a pic from the Trading Post, cause I forgot to get one during the surprise)

I was... I am.... Speechless.  I must have sat there for like 10 minutes without saying a thing.  I don't even know what was said.  I think I read someone saying, "I think we broke her..."  I was completely shocked, surprised, dumbfounded, amazed, scared, nervous, excited (just to name a few)!  My first instincts were to send it back, gracefully say no thanks, etc...  However, this was something that alot of people put their time, money and sincerity into.  I sat there trying to think of what to say, how to express how unbelievable of a gift this was to me.  I still don't think I expressed myself.  I was truly in shock and awe.  To have this much love being projected at you from people you love, and such an unfathomable gift was something I've very rarely experienced.  I immediately started weeping.  I know... I know... but, truly such sincerity and love just totally overwhelmed me.  (I'm even tearing up writing this.)

Anyway, I believe Urel snapped me out of it when he told me to "TRY THE DAMNED THING OUT!"  I'd had the mail still opened without clicking "Take" yet.  LOL.  Like I said, I was shocked.  I did so, and bound it to my account.

Such a little thing brings hours and hours and beyond of fun!

I immediately ran to a spot in the guild hall and began testing out my new toy, while everyone cheered me on.  Felt like I was really at a quinceanera, so I put on my cute dress and proceeded to dance and play with hair styles.  It's now 4 hours later and I'm still only 1/3 way through my characters playing with different looks.

I can't possibly express how wonderfully incredible you guys are!  Urel, Harper, Yeshua, Alex: I'll never forget this amazing experience!  I love you guys.

ALL THE COLORS AND HAIRSYLES ARE MIIIIIINNNNNEEEE!!!!