Snarks and Ladders

Well, if anyone managed to track me down from my old WoW blog, I guess you deserve to here the full story, just for sheer perseverance’s sake.

For the record – I still maintain there was nothing wrong with my old lifestyle.  I’m just choosing not to live it anymore, because it’s not good for me.  That doesn’t mean I am condemning it, or saying it’s not good for anyone else.

I spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet.  I’m a bit of a social networking junkie.  I love chatting to the wonderful people I have met from all around the world on the internet.  I spend most of my downtime hanging around online while doing other things – the internet is great for multitasking.

Unfortunately, I seem to have a problem with meeting guys online.  I know that there is nothing wrong with meeting people online and forming relationships that way – I totally get it.  I am a little concerned though that it IS how I met my last two boyfriends, as well as the guy who was involved in the dismal mess that I am now trying to get over.  Clearly I either meet the most fantastic people online (partially true), or I am just easily convinced to fall for someone (perhaps also easily true).

In real life, people tend to annoy me more.  You have to actually put up with their little quirks and habits.  I know that I have several annoying things I do which don’t come across online (I’ll compulsively rub my hands together when nervous.  Or my eye will itch and I’ll rub it until it’s red and sore.  I fail at making conversation with strangers, and I invariably end up blushing when I talk to them, which leads to further embarrassment and MORE blushing).  Online, I am a much superior version of myself.  And I guess a lot of other people are too.

So, yeah, I find myself falling for the wrong people.  And then getting hurt when it turns out I am not as likable as they once thought.  So, partially because of this, and partially because I want to try and reclaim my pre-gaming life back, I basically threw my hands up and said ‘no more!’ to the WoW community.

So I’m going to try and be better at my job.  I’m going to try and be fitter and look and feel healthier.  I’m going to try to be a better house keeper.  Read more.  Eat less.  Be a better pet owner.  Spend more time socialising with people who are physically around me, even if I would much rather curl up on the couch and stay in.

And I’m not going to fall for anyone who blindly leads me on, or let myself get in over my head like I have in the past.  I’m just getting tired of it.

The ever delightful Marylin linked to me in this quick n easy meme (thanks Marylin!)

I don’t change my desktop very often, so I have had this one for a while.  However, I think it is the first gaming desktop I have had in a long time – I usually stick to an image of the cats or something.  Perhaps I am just getting geekier?

For those who are unfamiliar with the image, that is a WoW screencap… specifically of my character about to fly into one of the major cities.  What can I say, I thought it was pretty!

However, I think I might be changing it soon to one of my photos from Nymagee.  What is Nymagee, you ask?  Well… maybe I’ll write a post about it sometime this week.  If the cars weren’t in the shot below, it would perfectly capture the feel of the place… one tree.  Lots of dirt.

I don’t actually have anyone to tag… instead, I’ll leave it open for anyone to take up on their own.

My blogging about my real life has been severely impacted by Facebook and Twitter.  For some reason, I spend more of my time yammering on at those two places than I ever could possibly spend blogging.  I don’t know if it’s a misguided thought that the people on those forums actually care, that it is easier, or that I just like playing FarmTown… but Facebook has killed my blogging!  Damn you Facebook!

So, here is what I propose to do about the situation

1.  Sabotage Facebook

I am going to infiltrate the Facebook headquarters (probably a really rich guys basement filled with servers and 14 year olds hitting on each other), and let loose a large number of gerbils in the room.  These gerbils will then bite and scare the 14 year olds.  The 14 year olds will run around scared, and probably trip on a server.  At least one of them will break a leg.  their parents will then sue the Facebook owner dude for all he is worth.  Facebook will shut down, and I will cry for days because I have no one to play FarmTown with.

…. wait.  That’s a really bad idea.  No FarmTown?  Besides, I can’t afford that many gerbils.

2.  Delete all my friends off Facebook.

Realistically, most of my friends on Facebook piss me off anyway.  Between the hundredmillionzilliontrillion quizzes, the constant stream of quotes-as-statuses from The Princess Bride, and the woe-is-me mourning that is the single sadsacks… it just pisses me off to be honest!  So, who needs all those friends anyhow?  No friends = no putting crap on Facebook!

… but then again… who would I play FarmTown with?

3.  Quit Blogging.

But, but… I like blogging!  Besides, I just paid my $10 to keep my domain name!  I can’t throw that away, that’s like… 2 coffees!

4.  Shrug helplessly and wait for myself to not suck.

In other words, business as usual.

In things which are totally not business as usual, and which make me jealous beyond ALL imagining and are totally awesome and squeeworthy…

TJ and Phil got engaged.  You may not know who they are (although, if you are reading the lameness which is me, no doubt you should be reading the awesomeness which is TJ).  Not only did they get engaged, but they got engaged in the most awesome manner ever.  Grats guys!

Major Wall of Text Warning.  Whole last month’s worth of posting has shat itself onto this one entry.  Read at own risk!!

Blogging is a weird thing.  Just like a diet, or a journal, or that pile of ironing that is sitting in the corner of the room gathering dust, it is something that we all resolve to do regularly and, really, few of us ever do.  As someone who ‘maintains’ 2 blogs, if there is anything that I know, it is that the maintenance will typically be unmaintained.

This blog was meant to be somewhere where I could vent at will about everything in my life – no one here knows me, after all, and it is perfectly safe from the weirdos who inhabit my actual everyday non internet related life.  I figured, well, I bitch all the god damn time, so this shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Ha!

I am SO terrible at updating this place.  Admittedly, I have also gotten really terrible at maintaining my other blog (although I hardly game anymore), and I have noticed a lot of blogs just disappearing into the night like so many toons running from the threat of Dip.  People just don’t have the time anymore, and I am really not sure what this is indicative of.  Perhaps we are all too busy?  Or too happy?  Or too unhappy, and therefore too drunk to form coherent sentences?

As a case in point, this is a time line of my typical day.  Let’s see where blogging could possibly fit in…

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6am: Alarm goes off for ‘morning walk’

6.02am: take ‘morning walk’, which involves turning off alarm, throwing it across the room to exercise those oh-so-important arm muscles, rolling over (thus moving my legs and exercising them), and getting back to the business of ‘sleep’.

6.10am:  Look at clock.  Curse.  Roll back over, thus gaining MORE exercise

6.20am:  Look at clock.  Curse.  Indulge in George Clooney fantasy.  Roll back over.

6.30am:  Look at clock.  Curse.  Continue George Clooney fantasy.  Roll over.

6.40am:  Look at clock.  Curse.  Commence phase two of fantasy:  George leaves, Hugh Jackman walks in.

6.50am:  Look at clock.  Curse.  Note you should really be up in 10 minutes.  Commence phase three of fantasy:  Hugh is still there, but George comes back.  Bliss out for 15 minutes.

7.05am:  Roll out of bed, cursing blindly about sleeping in for work.  Crawl into shower.  Curl up on shower floor and want to die.  Then think “What would George do if he were here?”

7.20am:  Somehow make it out of shower after thinking about George, or Hugh, in a steam filled room.  Day can only go downhill from that point.

7.30am:  Check to see if yoghurt in fridge purchased some time ago is still in date.  See it still has a week left. Enough time for the resolve to eat the foul tasting shit to kick in some other day.

7.45am:  Feed cat, get dressed.  Lose keys.  Find Keys.  Lose glasses.  Find glasses.

8.05am:  Leave for work 5 minutes late.  Realise as I leave I still have ugg boots on.

8.15am:  Stagger into work, with real shoes on.  Somehow lose glasses again.  Drop photocopies on floor.  Curse.  Think about George as I bend over to pick them up.  Hmmm…

8.45am:  School actually starts.  Frantically plan lessons in head while walking to roll call.

9.00am:  Bluff way through first lesson.  Manage to not get caught calling the children various nouns and adjectives under breath.

10.35am:  Lunch.  Have hot chips and gravy, don’t give a shit about diet until you see the slim attractive special ed teacher munching on a carrot.  Curse… eat more gravy. 

11.15am:  Go to next class.  Write notes on board, then try not to nap.  Threaten kids with abject failure when they ask questions.  Make intentional errors on board to cheer self up.

1pm:   Recess.  Sit and try not to die for 20 minutes.  Spend 15 of it bitching about having to teach for the next 2 hours.

1.20pm:  Engage in half assed teaching while freaking out about next day’s classes, report cards, exams, marking, parent/teacher interviews, paperwork, meetings…

3.05pm: Bell rings!  Get all excited for about 10 seconds, until you remember there is a GDSM.

3.15pm:  GDSM (God Damn Staff Meeting) begins.  Mentally count errors boss makes.  Less than ten earns me a drink for him having a good day.  More than twenty earns me a drink for having to put up with that shite.

4pm:  Get home, throw all work that I had planned to do on floor, decide to collapse for *just ten minutes*

4.30pm: Drag ass off lounge, log on to computer.  See the “awesome, hopefully not freaky, sorta boyfriend” (AHNFSB)is online.  Squeal

4.31pm:  Feel crushed when AHNFSB is busy.  Sulk.  Think about Hugh!

4.45pm:  Do a small amount of work, then snack.  Snacks are great

5pm:  AHNFSB is finally available.  Chat some.  He listens to me whine, I listen to him sit silently listening to me whine.  Then… he somehow makes me marginally happier.  Forget about George for first time today.

6pm:  Think about making dinner.  Can’t be assed.  Do some more marking, then throw it across the room.

7pm:  Make dinner.  Feel invariably disappointed with it.  Start to worry that the meat was off and that’s why it tastes crap.  Feel ill.

8pm:  Wind down with a book and some more conversation with the AHNFSB.  Possibly freak him out by declaring undying love.  Watch Bunnykill to help shake off the sop factor.

9pm:  Watch a movie while doing some work.

10pm:  Go to bed with AHNFSB (via headset), since the heater doesn’t work yet and the house is god damn cold.

1am:  Fall asleep after 3 hours of trying to warm up.  Curse inefficient electric blanket and broken heater.  Curse AHNFSB for living so far away.  Curse job for being a pain.  Sleeeeeep.