On Being a Wizard and Other Small Matters

Lookit! Lookit!

A new post!

A real, honest-to-goodness post from yours truly. Can you believe it?

The last nearly two months have been interesting, to say the least. I have learned a lot about myself, namely that I have the tendency to become obsessed with new things. Ok, well, I already knew that. However.

My obsessions seldom last longer than about three months. In the space of roughly twelve weeks, I typically burn out on the latest obsession and move on to something new, mainly because I get bored with the topic at hand.

Which makes it all the more amazing that I am still playing Wizard 101 daily. I checked my account yesterday (to add a new character, of course!) and noted with interest that I began my Spiral adventure on Christmas Day. Tomorrow will be four months, and this particular obsession shows no sign of becoming a thing of the past any time soon.

Interestingly enough, I actually FINISHED the game, not once but TWICE, and am closing in on the third and fourth times through. Each character I create has its own set of traits that makes it just different enough from the previous one to enable me to follow through on all the quests. But the fact that I actually completed two rounds is amazing in itself.

Now, I know those of you who don't play the game couldn't care less about the details, so I won't bore you with them. Just suffice it to say that I look forward each evening to helping one of my seven wizards progress through the game.

In case you are wondering, yes, I tried some of the other online role play games (RPGs,) but I found that none of them held my attention longer than about an hour.

For those of you who give a hoot, here are a few stats about my characters. For those of you who don't, you may skip this entire section, because I promise you, there will be actual news following.

These are my wizards:
Victoria Moonthistle - Life Grandmaster, second school Storm
Scarlet Dragonrider - Fire Grandmaster, second school Ice
Cheyenne Wildflower - Balance Master, second school Death
Destiny - Death Master - second school Life
Olivia Spiritwalker - Myth Journeyman, second school Life
Sophia Dreamcatcher - Storm Journeyman, second school undetermined at present
Kiley Ravensong - Ice Apprentice

My kids also have multiple characters, and we quest together every day. The upside to this, if you look past all the obsessive tendencies we display, is that I have actually found some educational merit to this game.

There is filtered text chat in the game. Since filtered chat does not allow words that are misspelled, the kids are learning spelling as well as typing. They found out quickly that their online friends will not wait around for them to say what they want to say, so their typing speed has increased dramatically.

Each battle fought is different, and requires math skills to win. Quick calculations of health remaining, spell strength, boosts and weaknesses must be made in the space of thirty seconds, or you miss your turn, and stand a chance of being defeated. No one likes to be defeated.

There is a logical progression to the game, but side quests can be taken, giving the player a chance to make each character's adventure a little different.

Since it is an online role play game, the kids interact with other players, and since the chat is filtered, it's safe for them.

And now that I am Goddess of the Spiral, even if it's just in my own mind, I have discovered a common ground that connects me to my kids' friends, something I have always struggled to find.

Okay, enough rationalizing my obsession! We now continue with our regular post.

The family is fine, healthy and happy. Spring is officially in bloom in our back yard, and our homeschool continues to be the highlight of our days. We continue our chronological history studies, and are fully ensconced in Ancient Greece, reading The Age of Fable, Tanglewood Tales, Greek Myths and The Children's Homer. Our latest classical books have included The Swiss Family Robinson and Little Women, and yesterday we began Treasure Island.

I have to admit that my personal reading time has been greatly impacted by my new online interest, but I am currently reading Stranger in a Strange Land for book club. I think I can finish before the next meeting.

Yesterday, our neighbor brought over her new kitten for us to see, and that started a whole "Can we get a kitten?" frenzy. While I am the softest softie about baby kitties, I am not exactly up for starting over with a fresh feline in the house. Maybe later.

Our cats are well, the inside fish is still swimming, the outside fish fared well through the winter, and the guinea pig is still adorable.

With the warm weather, my sweet honey and I will be making regular weekend trips to the north Georgia mountains, and I can assure you, that takes precedence over any other obsession I may have. Wizard 101 doesn't even cross my mind on those trips. Ok, well, that's a stretch, but still, I will take a jaunt around the mountain curves over spiral-romping ANY day. See, my priorities aren't TOO askew.

And with that, I bid you farewell until I guilt myself into another entry.

We Interrupt Your Musing To Deliver an Update

Heh. Yeah, it's Monday again. *sheepish grin*

Well, I spent hours over the weekend playing Wizard 101 and adding wood to the fire. We had a little snow yesterday, and the overall ambiance of fire inside and ice outside nicely complemented my new fire and ice wizard character.

Yes, everyone is fine. Yes, we all have clean clothes to wear, clean dishes to eat from, and no one is starving.

And I'm even letting the pink one plan a sleepover! See, I'm not completely enmeshed in the online game, although I do tend to lose track of time like never before.

OH! I also have discovered the joy of Facebook and My Space. Who would have thought?

So, back to my actual homeschooling job, for no, although I am otherwise entertained throughout the evenings and weekends, my first love is, and always will be, educating my children.

And when we're done? We can all three sign on and fight the bad guys together! YAY!

Yes, I Can Quit Whenever I Want

Hey! It's Monday again. How did that happen?

We had a wonderful weekend. Saturday, I had a spa appointment to use the gift card I got for Christmas. That was delightful! Between the massage, the seaweed scrub and the facial, I felt every bit the pampered lady.

Afterward, I went clothes shopping for the first time in months, mainly because I have too many clothes for the larger me and not enough for the skinny me. Anyway, I remedied that in short order, and my solemn vow is to never allow the larger clothes in my closet to see the light of day again outside a donation box.

The kids went off with Grammy and PapPap in the afternoon to see a movie, and we all met for dinner at our favorite pizza place. Then I came hopme and went to sleep at 9:00 PM and slept all the way through to 9:00 AM. The whole online gaming frenzy finally caught up with me, and my body just said ENOUGH.

So make a note of this: I went the WHOLE DAY without signing on to Wizard 101. THE WHOLE ENTIRE DAY.

However.

Then there was Sunday.

The boys took the ATVs out to Durhamtown for the day. And honestly, I tried REALLY REALLY hard to stay off the computer. I managed to tidy up a little, and then I tried to read a book. I built a wonderful fire to occupy my time in the tending thereof, and yet...

I brought my laptop downstairs so I could be near the fire with it if I decided to maybe, just maybe check my email.

Yeah, I'll just check my email and then turn it off.

Okay. Now what.

Oh, I will check Facebook to see what my friends are doing.

Okay. Now what.

Maybe I'll just open up Facebook in a little side window and then maybe I'll just sign on to Wizard 101 just to see who is on.

SIX HOURS LATER,

I went to bed.

Yes, I have it bad, but it's still the best diet plan I've ever been on. LOL <---(a sure sign I've been texting way too much.)

Anyway, this morning, I leapt out of bed and began cleaning like a fiend, determined to get the house in order, the clothes washed and the kids taught before I do much of anything online. Email and blog notwithstanding, of course.

Now, I'm headed back to my to do list. There will be no guilt on my head tonight when I sign on to Wizard 101 just to see who is on.

When Cats Attack and/or Simply Panic

Well, I have been thoroughly chastised by friends and family for letting this online game take over my life and not blogging as regularly as I should.

Ok, not really, but still, I have heard enough about it from my own consciousness to be able to admit I have a problem, albeit a rather small one.

Still, I don't have enough willpower on my own to just quit cold turkey, so I managed to at least cut back A LITTLE on my gaming.

Yay me! Now if you believe that, let me tell you about this little bridge I want you to see...

In other areas of my life, things continue to rock along as expected. Homeschool learning is happening, and we are studying ancient Babylon and Assyria right now. Our classic literature is wrapping up Swiss Family Robinson, but I'm not sure which book I will choose next. Each child is reading a classic or two of their own, and they continue to work on math, science and Spanish at their own pace.

And simply because you haven't had one in some time, here is another funny cat story:

There I was. Sitting quietly on my bed, laptop in my, er, lap, getting my nightly fix of Wizard 1o1. At the opposite end of the bed from me lay a beautiful orange tabby cat named Sparky, snoozing in a very cat-like manner.

Suddenly, another cat raced up the stairs and down the hall, as loudly as said cat could on newly installed carpet, behaving much like something was chasing it. That, or it had been in the catnip recently, I don't know.

In a flash, Sparky leaped from his snugly spot and raced toward me. Completely undaunted by the fact that I was sitting there at all, he managed to climb UP MY BODY, ACROSS MY FACE for crying out loud, and over onto my nightstand.

For one brief moment in time, all four of the claws on one of his front paws were IN MY FACE as he fled from the perceived terror.

I screamed, threw my laptop across the bed, and raced to the bathroom. I grabbed a rag, wet it with cold water and pressed it against my face, horrified at the thought that not only would I be disfigured for life, but that I had probably lost an eye to boot.

With searing pains shooting through my face, I cried out as my family ran in to see what had caused all the commotion. I slowly lowered the rag, fully expecting to see it covered in blood, only to realize that I had not been scratched at all, just punctured in four evenly spaced places, looking every bit like a mutant vampire had bitten my face. That wretched cat missed my EYE by mere millimeters.

I'm screaming, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT CAT!?!?!" as I am continuing to hold the cold wet rag on my face. The culprit had vanished, so I couldn't exact retribution on him, which was just as well, because I would probably have separated his head from his body could I but have located him at that very moment.

Anyway, as of today, there is only one lovely hole under my eye, which thankfully is healing nicely and can be covered with makeup enough to resemble a nasty zit instead of the near-death experience it actually was. Near-death for the feline, that is.

So, that is my latest adventure with cats.

The rest of my adventures lie somewhere between my game and the laundry room and kitchen, somewhere between gymnastics and weekend trips to the mountains, somewhere between ancient Assyria and the island called New Switzerland, but most of them are never quite so dramatic. And life continues on in a regular pattern as it should.

But I say, watch out for online games. And freaked out cats.

Blog? What Blog?

OH! This blog. Heh.

Well, I have some new for you.

Y'ALL.

I.

FINISHED.

THE.

GAME.

Yes, I did. I am now a Grandmaster on Wizard 101 level 50 Super Hero, defeated the bad guys and saved the Spiral Worlds.

Sigh. It feels very good.

As for the rest of my world? I think the house is still clean, and I know we're not starving. I'm sure I still have a husband and at last count, there were still two children running around here. So, I feel confident that I am still among the non-cartoon living.

Actually, we have had a lovely week. The weather was spring-like, items on the to-do list were accomplished, and demeanors were generally pleasant.

The kids and I went to a homeschool Valentine party Friday and had a wonderful time. Oh, and speaking of Valentine's Day, there's something you should know. Remember Christmas before last, when I had lost all that weight? Well, last Valentine's Day marked the beginning of the end of that little adventure, and I wound up with twenty extra pounds before Independence Day, what with all the temptations that start on the international day of love.

Valentine candy. Easter candy. Girl Scout cookies. Birthday candy. And just general snacking because of my rampant sweet tooth and apparent lack of self control. Yeah. All that.

However.

Not. This. Year.

I am most proud to say that I did reach my goal weight last Wednesday. I am back to 130 pounds, as I should be, and here I plan to stay.

And yes, I had some Valentine candy, because I think a small reward every now and then is a good thing. I ate an entire one pound bag of almond M&Ms in an afternoon. HA!

Ok, now I can cross Valentine candy off my list. If I can just make it through Easter and Girl Scout cookies, I think I will actually get to wear my new bikini this summer. Because it still has the tags on if from last year when I bought it. Sigh.

So, I reached two goals in a week. I hit my target weight and I saved my little online world. Not bad for a forty-something homeschool mom.

Know what I did when I finished the game?

I started over with a new wizard.

Stay tuned to see if I'm really as obsessed as you think, or if I will get bored in a day or two. Should be interesting.

In Which I Apologize For Being Obsessed by a Game

NOT!

Yes, yes, I know. I have been very remiss in updating you all on the daily intricacies of my life. What I want to know is, why has no one fussed at me for missing an entire week?

Anyway, I have no real excuse except for the fact that the Wizard 101 launch icon is right next to my blog launch icon. What does that tell you? My brain is mush from this online game, and I'd much rather defeat cartoon monsters than use my words. HA!

Well, despite the fact that my family has lost me to the world of online role play games, we are doing just fine. The house is clean, the carpet is still pristine, the touch-ups are done and we all have clean clothes to wear and food to eat. I must be doing something right.

The weather has been positively spring-like the last few days, so we took advantage of that and headed to the mountains for lunch on Saturday. The kids went with the grandparents to a new museum, and we met a friend in one of those quaint little towns that doesn't seem to change much through the years.

My sweet honey's uncle is in town all the way from chilly PA, so we got to visit with him for a while, and then yesterday they played golf while the kids and I got the house in order for dinner guests.

My friend's husband is a delightful computer geek, and I needed some serious work done on several of our machines and our network, so I did what any red-blooded gal would do,. I offered food in exchange for services rendered.

And a good time was ha by all. Heh.

Delightful Weekend

What an absolutely gorgeous weekend this turned out to be. Yesterday, we went to a car auction just for grins to see what's out there. Turns out, there are some awesome bargains to be had. If you're in the market for a car, that is. We apparently have plenty.

Today, we took a drive to the mountains for the first time in a long time. No way we pass up perfect weather, no matter what the calendar says.

Anyway, go cap off the best weekend of the year, I'm going to post this and sign on to Wizard 101. I've almost finished the game.

Know what that means? I can start ALL OVER with a new wizard.

Heh.