Don't faint-I joined a guild

My main realm has 9 Horde characters all in one guild-my families guild-just the 3 of us. The 10th character on that realm is an Alliance level 80 with his own personal guild.

On a second realm I have a level 71 Dwarf hunter-also in our 3 person family only guild. And a level 75 Death Knight who remains un-guilded.

On a third realm I have a level 71 Blood Elf Paladin that I duo with my husband, also a level 71 Blood Elf Paladin-and they, too, are un-guilded.

Then there is my 4th realm. I have a level 75 Dwarf Paladin here now. And a few days ago I actually joined a guild. Yes, a real one, with real other people. Yeah, the people I've been avoiding for four years now. And I'm a little nervous.

Obviously I'm not high enough level to raid-yet. But I've mentioned before here one of the big reasons why I've never attempted to raid-my hearing. Simply put, when I try to listen to people talking on vent it sounds like one big mumbly garbled mess. But it's almost the same way when I watch television, so we always keep the captions on. It sucks when you are constantly telling your loved ones "what was that? could you repeat that?" It's not that I don't listen, I just can't understand what is being said.

And so this Saturday the guild is having a "Farewell to Onyxia" raid. Sure, with a dozen 80s and a bunch more 70ish's in there, the fight will probably be trivial. But that's not the point. I've NEVER raided before, AND I can't use Vent. So we shall see whether or not this works or is a flat out disaster for me.

And then there's the fact that most of the guild is on late in the evening and weekends. And those are my family times-whether it's watching television or playing characters we have together-that is the time I spend with them, not on my solo characters. I'd feel awfully guilty if I told them I didn't want to play with them because I want to play with other people. Doesn't work like that for me. Family is #1.


And so we shall see how this guild thing goes. It's weird being in a guild, already. I feel like I have all of these other eyes on me at all times. Should I continue to do what I feel like doing, what I enjoy-or do I have to feel obligated to stop what I am doing to do whatever with them. It's weird.

More reports to come on how this works out!