Who Knew?

For the past couple months, I've been playing a simple online crop harvest game.
Now it's begun having some serious lag issues due to it's popularity.

Who knew such a simple point and click game would gain such popularity with everyone so quickly?
It says a lot about our society when we all want to play such a uncomplicated game. One that you can pick up and put down with ease without losing points or there being any sort of major consequences to your game or there being any sort of major complications getting started again.
The only thing you have to do is play- time and experience-and not very much of that- levels you up on a fairly regular basis. And the real fun of it is how creative you can be with your land. Some are simple squares.....others have a more complicated pattern, some have very intricate patterns, but some are just random plots placed her and there about the land......no thought gone into it at all except just to have fun.

The avatars arent anything but cartoony clones. There are a dozen hairstyles to choose from, the eye colors are normal colors, and the clothes are all the same...bib overalls and a non-descript shirt. It looks like dozens and dozens of sets of twins running about...........
You can be creative with your land name- and your avatars name. But that's it.

It's a calm, relaxing, game that you can spend playing a few minutes- or 6 hours if you want to stand around and wait to be hired to harvest someone elses crops.
Love it.

To Be....Or Not To Be........

I've lead a full life. I regret few things in my life because I am what I am....either in spite of what my life has been like- or because of it. It's debatable to say the least.
But every once in a while, I hear something that makes me wonder.....what have I DONE with my life. Was it enough.......Could I have done it better somehow.

At the times, I did what I thought I had to do to get by, while waiting and hoping that something would come along to make it all fall into place. And neither of my life goals actually came to pass.
I wanted to become a runway model, something I actually did for a while during high school but was denied by my parents when my chance came to actually take a job with an agency during my last two summers at home. I also loved to draw houses(I think that's where Clay got his talent of it from) and wanted to become an architect. But becoming a parent put that dream aside too. And I finally decided I wanted to become a security consultant and began school for that- but along the way I decided to home-school my boys. Homeschooling AND a full time(14 hour) workday put that on the back burner. So the 14 hour workdays were too much and so I "settled" for a job working for a security company. And I've been working with this company now since 1983 off and on......the latest stint for the last 7 years straight.

I received my pin and service certificate last night at work.

It's been a long road....at first having to take on call jobs whenever anyone called off for various reasons...a day here- a day there, some in really posh places, some in the middle of nowhere with nothing to look at except an empty building or a field....sometimes even with no bathroom facility for miles. But as I gained somewhat of a reputation for being "the girl" who could handle any job and be relied upon, I began getting more permanent job sites lasting a few weeks to a few months each. And finally I was offered a permanent site. And when the head honcho(basically a company troubleshooter) moved on to another site, he would request me to follow him and work with him to get the site in ship shape. And I thought I was good at what I did.

But then the troubleshooter joined a group, comparable to the military, and went overseas and I was on my own in the company where I quickly realized why my honcho had left......the benefits did NOT represent the headaches. My hands were tied at so many levels....all the bureaucracy
was a weight on my mind, so, with mine and my parents declining health problems, I decided to go back to being a regular officer while waiting for something better to come along. And here I've been, all this time, just living my life..... letting it flow day after day after day, hoping for bigger and better to come along, but doing what needed to be done til that time came. And altho , as I have told you before, I have a degree and certificates in various things, I kept doing the security/law enforcement jobs.

But a comment I heard made me dead stop and think..........have I just wasted my life? Should I have had more pride and not done what I did to get by, but waited and toughed it out until my "Dream Job" came along? I don't usually THINK so, until I think maybe to others my life does look like a wasted throwaway and I didn't care enough to try harder.

It makes me sad to think I could have done better but threw it all away just "doing what needed to be done" at the time.

...but then again, would I be here today had I not done things the way I did?

*Sigh....*

I am SOOOO getting a headache.

Our Camping Experience.

We went camping.
There was a bear.
We came home.
It was an awesome trip.

Update.....

Julie's surgery went fine. She's home resting comfortably now.

My doc visit went fine, but because of cancer history in my family, has recommended a procedure for later in July.

We're out and about for the weekend.

ZEBCO 33

In my opinion one of the best overall fishing rods EVER made.

My friend KayDee at work suggested we get together and go fishing soon, declaring she just got a brand new Fishing pole.

"REALLY?" I asked. My excitement showing as I saw the potential for a female friend who knew about and actually LIKED fishing.

"YES!!!" she said.

"What kind is it?" I asked.

She leaned forward, her eyes shining with excitement as she declared....."It's a PINK one!!!!!"

*Giggle*

Further and Further Away

Well, once again, Paul and I made a trip to the ER yesterday afternoon.

I won't tell you any of the gory details, only to say that I wish there hadn't been a reason to go.

With each visit an ocean grows, putting distance between me and the two things I want most in this world.
I have given serious thought to refusing any more treatments of any kind, stopping all my meds, and refusing to go to any doctor's visits until my heart stops beating.
Just living my life without all the hassle of going in to the doctors and them finding something else wrong with me every visit and then having to go to yet another doctor...over and over again, ad-nauseam..... maybe then all my money won't be going to damn doctors and damn meds.

I don't know- I'm just in a mood.
I'm still kinda weirded out by everything that's happened in the past couple days.
I'll think on it some more and make a decision later.
Some days I hate being me.

Desperately Seeking Pepto Bismol......

I think I got hold of a bad can of baked beans last night when I made supper, because this morning at about 4:30 AM, I awoke to the classic symptoms of food poisoning.

And at 9AM I'm still up and making the bathroom my home away from(?) home.

Fresh out of Pepto- and not a snowballs change in HELL of making it to the pharmacy to get more before I get sick again.

If it weren't for bad luck....etc...etc...........

And Then......

When my mom heard about the storm, she said she would come over this weekend and bring us her Weather Alert Radio since she's living somewhere else right now.

Bless her heart, this afternoon she was in an accident- rear ended by someone- and she was thinking about us and our safety.

Not Quite As Cool As I Thought-(Or Just Call Me Dorothy)

Well, it seems I'm not quite as cool and level-headed as I thought. Not when I'm at home, that is.

At work, when disaster hits, I have a plan, and a back-up plan, and several more plans all the way up to PLAN F just in case I need them. I know what to do, and in what order depending on the situation. I'm Ms. Cool, Collected and Together.

But yesterday, here at Home, I was sitting at the house on the desk computer while Paul played a game on the TV. I heard a train coming by the house as we do on a regular basis since we live only about a hundred yards from the railway track.
Then it dawned on me..........I was hearing the train from the WRONG side of the house.
OH CRAP!!!!
I jumped up and ran to the front door and opened it just in time to see my brother's Canvas Freestanding awning come flying over his home and slam onto his chain length fence. The grass and smaller trees were bending over sideways and above the stand of trees towards the railway was a huge dark swirling fast moving cloud.

I TOTALLY freaked, yelling for Paul to come quickly, and that we needed to go up to the safety of mom's brick home basement. Then I just dead stopped when I realized I had no way to GET to the safety of mom's basement because no one was here or near that had a key to her house.
So I just stood there in the wind and rain with my mouth open and my brain totally went blank. I didn't have a back-up plan. Not a single, solitary one.
Paul pulled me back into the living room til the storm blew past and held me til I calmed down a bit. But I was totally unprepared.

And THAT scared me more than the storm. Luckily it was just a Severe Thunderstorm with high winds that blew past in about 30 minutes and not a Tornado, but even so..........

We don't have a lot of warning if the TV isn't on when we have these storms blow up, we live too far from Town for the Tornado Sirens to be heard, and we live on the back side of a hill so we can't see what's coming til it's right on top of us. How the Hell can I keep us safe if I'm blindsided on every level?

I'm STILL freaking out about it.......Just Call Me Dorothy-Caught without a plan!!!!

Camping =

Tent
Skillet
Small Saucepan
Cooler (stocked with sammich fixins,eggs, bacon, ice & drinks)
Box (stocked with chips, bread,tins of potted meats,beans, instant coffee & creamer &,extra sodas & plastic eating utensils)
Can Opener & Pocketknife
Fishin' pole & Tackle box
Sleepin' bag
Charcoal & matches or lighter
Small basic first-aid kit
Water(?)

....and if you wanna get posh and cushy about it- take an airbed and a pillow and a camp chair.
Am I forgetting anything important?...Oh and the makins for S'Mores.

Overnight or Weekend Hiking trips for ME are even MORE basic.
A tent and/or sleeping bag, lots of granola bars and nuts, a few tins of potted meats, crackers, water, a first aid kit and matches......... in a backpack.
That's MY kinda camping. Just pack up and go. No Fuss- No Muss- and most importantly, No housework on vacation.

Where Have They All Gone?.........

Paul made a comment a couple of days ago while we were out having a bit of a ride. He asked if I had noticed there were no fireflies(or Lightning Bugs as we call 'em here in the South) anymore.

So the past few nights I've paid particularly close attention and he's right. I haven't seen the first lightnin' bug. Nary a ONE!

Where have they all gone? Have they all flown back to the Mother-ship and headed back to their own solar system?
Is it just here in the south or have they disappeared in your neck of the woods too?

Lord KNOWS the mosquitoes haven't went anywhere....they're still here and in excruciatingly fine form. Doing their little job of just bleeding us dry each and every chance they get.

I just don't understand.......

Southernese.

Okay, today I had to explain to a Yank........I mean a Northerner, what the phrase Y'all All means.

Let me explain it to y'all.

Okay "Y'all" can be a plural or a singular noun and yes, you DO need the EXTRA "All" in there.

Example:

You have a group of people. You have two jobs. You direct them by dividing them into two groups.

Then, you tell them, motioning to the first group......"Okay, now Y'all start cutting the hay." Then you motion the the second group and say, "And Y'all start baling the hay." Then you motion to the entire group and say, "And Y'all All are stayin' for supper tonight!"
The first two are used as singular nouns referring to a group as a single entity. The last one is used as a plural noun referring to them all as a group.

Any questions?

I WANT It!!!!!

Paul just showed me the coolest thing EVER on the 360.

Right now it's sort of like a prototype project.....But it's the coolest thing I've ever seen!!!
Sort of like a Wii- but with no controllers. It works by scanning your body, and it has a voice recognition program. YOU are the controller with body movement and talking to it . As it says in the demo- The only experience you need is "Life Experience".

I want it- and we'll be getting it as soon as it comes out. Promise!!!!!