The Unsuspecting RL Part Deux

Ah hah!
I got the opportunity to apply my lessons learned even sooner than I thought!

Yesterday being a federal holiday and my employer being a federal agency, I had the opportunity to spend a little extra time in Wow (and painting my daughter's room a lovely yellow, but that's uh, beside the point).

PUG #1:
Hopping online at an atypical time afforded me the opportunity to be whispered by a guildie: "I'm in a TOC10 (Trial of the Crusader 10-man) that is picking up from yesterday. We're on Twins and we need a healer. Is your healer geared enough?" To which I replied confidently: "Sure!"

Not being all that sure; I'll post today about transferring my shaman, but she's in all Naxx/ilevel 200 gear but I thought it would be worth trying.

So off to TOC I went. Two other healers in group, good. Confident-sounding warrior/MT (Heman) in vent, good. It's 8 guildies so they know each other and they just brought my guildie and myself in; ok, not bad. Somewhat aware of fight mechanics on Twins, all right.

Attempt #1: Tank I'm not healing dies at about 45 sec mark. Healer #3 was not in vent channel.
Attempt #2: DPS was a bit low, and Tank #2 still dies, this time at about 2 min. I suggest I heal both tanks and raid, and let the other two healers focus on their tanks. Also, having done this a bunch of times as dps, I suggest tanking the twins next to each other to increase damage output. Heman agrees.
Attempt #3&4: Improvement each time. Deaths occur, but generally do well. #4 is doomed when dps can't get Twin's shield down in time to prevent them from healing.
Attempt #5: Much better. Get Twins to 40% when the tree healer dies. I take over primary heals on Heman and keep raid healing. There's confusion on changing light/dark charges, and a melee dies. I'm going oom. My mana tide helps, and I pot. Craziness.... got the shield down, kicked the heal...... dps..... dps...... dead Twins!!! Screams in vent.
Turns out to be this guild's first kill. :)
Check the (damn meters): I did 50% more heals than healer #2, with half the overheals. Self/pat. Haven't forgotten how to heal - it's a miracle.

Anub'Arak is next. The last boss of TOC. Heman asks: "does anyone know how to do this? I haven't researched it." No one in their guild has seen it. My friendly guildy says: "Hine can explains."

Deep Breath (Hine Deep Breath > Felmyst's Deep Breath > Onyxia's Deep Breath): ask if everyone is ready. Collect thoughts. Spew the strategy. Raid chat comments say that I "sound like that Tankspot guy." I take it as a compliment. My guildie reminds them that 'this fight can still be a wipe fest.'
Attempt #1: Everybody does what they were told! Offtank grabs the add, tanks it on permafrost, ranged switches and kills it. Lock keeps shooting orbs. The add phase (scarabs everywhere) gets a little hairy when people scatter too far and the lock is out of range and dies. Battle rez. Keep going. Going. Going. Phase 3 hits, and I find myself in the quandry of all healers on this fight: I have to let everyone almost die? But we keep Going, and 20 sec before the enrage, Anub dies!!!

Congratulations, you've just pugged TOC10!
Thanks for the caster shield - this pug even handed loot to the puggee. Nice!

PUG #2: After raid, put myself in LFG to complete the daily (on DK). Get asked to tank. I come in, do the first pull; the trickiest in Halls of Stone where you line of sight pull a couple packs of casters. The lock doesn't go LOS and dps's the casters. They kill her, instagib my healer, and we die. I think to myself, "I could regret not having a true tank spec on this run." Still we kill the ugly big female pally with only two deaths. We get to Brann, and it's obvious this group have never even run this 5-man. Hmmm. My guildies are whispering me to come do Ulduar. Let me try the last boss here. I explain the fight. We wipe, and we're not that close. I say, 'thanks guys, guildies need me in Ulduar' and hearth.

Lessons learned Part Deux:
-I followed my own advice. The TOC pug had a chance of success because they were generally the appropriate level and gear for the instance. They were on vent (mostly). When I had to explain, I ensured all were listening, and put some thought into my explanation.
-On the failpug, I didn't keep trying when it was obvious it would just keep failing. Instead of kicking people, I simply cut my losses and left.

All in all, a good experience!