I hate 50% moons

Seriously, the fishing in FFXI when the moon is at or near the 50% mark. It's completely unbearable, 5-8 no catches in a row followed by 3 monsters. I get they want us to go find other things to do but come on...

Crafting in FFXI - Sample Video I made

The video is an example of how to craft in FFXI. You get crystals from monsters defeated when you have your nations Signet active, or you can buy them from the Auction House. You then use the crystal in combination with items (recipes are available online or from your crafting guild NPCs) to create new items. In the example below, the crafting animation shows what a High Quality (HQ) synth looks like. Depending on the level of the crafter's skill and the level of the recipe, you can potentially create HQ items or in this case, more than one item.

Getting Started in Final Fantasy XI

Found a couple of good starters guides:

General Starters Guide
Starting guide specific to Windurst