He’s the Veteran. I’m the Noob. Love That for Us.

Being an Ironman girlfriend is hard.  Sometimes, I feel sorry for that man of mine…
But then I remember how awesome I am — and the feeling passes.

Still, I’ve got to give him some credit. He really stuck it out with this bumbling, clueless noob for a while.

Imagine being a seasoned gamer — and when I say seasoned, I mean been-playing-since-before-puberty-hit (don’t worry, it hit… and it hit hard). My guy has played Old School RuneScape (and a bunch of other games) for years. He knows every shortcut, hotkey, map tile, and trick like it’s built into his DNA.

Then there’s me. Iron(wo)man. Determined. Clueless. Just wanting to spend time with him. Left clicking my food when I should be right clicking. Taking months to remember how to get from Lumbridge to Varrock. Delaying progress because I didn’t know how to use the map or toggle the view. It was painful — mostly for him.

But give me a break — before OSRS, the only computer game I’d ever played was Solitaire. And that doesn’t exactly prepare you for Slayer tasks or inventory management. Learning to move, open the map, and not just exist as a wandering noob took time. My short-term memory is basically goldfish-level, so repetition was key. Lots of it.  But hey, once it is locked in, it is locked in.

Now?
Now I teach HIM things.

Farming runs? Never did them before me. Birdhouse runs? Didn’t know how until I showed him. Imagine having three accounts and skipping all the XP-rich goodness of hunting and gathering. What kind of Ironman are you if you’re not doing farm runs? Off-the-grid means off-the-grid, baby.

In all fairness, before me, his only real skill was player-killing.
Oh, the countless mentions of his “main” — the big, strong, manly man of RuneScape — while I’m over here chiseling gems for some crafting xp just so we can eventually craft some halfway-decent armor.

That said, he did once escort me through the wilderness so I could use the Chaos Altar in peace. Protected me from PKers like a digital bodyguard while I nervously spam-clicked bones into prayer XP.

It was oddly romantic.
The growl of dragons in the distance. The constant threat of instant death. Him standing there — strong, capable, mildly annoyed — shielding me with only slight eye rolls and heavy sighs.

That’s love.

I used to make fun of my mom for tending to her digital crops on Farmville like it was her full-time job… and now look at me. Plotting herb runs while having my morning coffee. Timing birdhouses before dinner. Evolving.

The point of this post?
Absolutely none.

I was just sitting here thinking about how yummy my man is and how far I’ve come. Thought I’d share.

That is all. 💅🏼