Games I Play

Yes, I am a player. If you didn't know that before, know it now. I like to play. I believe that play is part of what keeps one young at heart. Unfortunately, I do play the badder sorts of games as well. Let's start with those.

I need to play games with my mom. Most of them are for her own good. Whenever I go out, I am "going to The Smith." Even if I am not going to the Smith - that is where I tell her I am going. I sometimes add Wegman's to the places I am going and to the things I am doing. More information than that just starts her brain whirring - and that can be sad. I try to keep mom as calm as possible.

At home, whenever I need to "escape" from my mom - because if I didn't escape, I would go even crazier than I already am - I say I am "going to the bathroom." She can't really deny me going to the bathroom(even though she sometimes tries to). When I eventually return, I might tell her what I was actually doing - within reason. Playing xBox is just "playing," working in the kitchen is just that. Working on the computer (which includes checking Facebook - I mean, come on, that takes a lot of time and effort...)

Next is the answer game. Mom used to ask the same question over and over again. She still does, but the question has become "What am I doing?" or some variation of that. It is really hard to answer that. I am not one for giving her activities - when I have given her activities she gets even more stressed out. She doesn't do much, so my answers are pretty simple most of the time: You are going to the bathroom, you are lying down thinking happy thoughts, you are eating your lunch.

Just for your information, mom's cognitive skills are declining appreciably. I can say a sentence I said six months ago and today she can't parse it. I need to keep my sentences down to about five words to maximize her listening comprehension. No allusions, no big vocabulary words. Sigh.

I play games when I make meals. Ok, not so much play games as sometimes make two meals - or one and a half meals. For instance, if I make salmon for my mom, I will make something else for me. Or tonight, we had salad, hamburgers and sweet potato tots. On my salad I added green olives and mild banana peppers - two things that mom has made clear she doesn't like. And for our hamburgers (which I marinate in Worcestershire Sauce and stuff with cheese) and tots I added a few pizza pockets - again things that mom doesn't like. And I play with recipes - making things I have always wanted to make. Mom says she loves the egg drop soup from Main Moon on Exchange Street. Well, we are out of it - and there is still Chinese food left over - so I am going to make some egg drop soup for her. Yippee?

I try not to play relationship games, but I am a gamer, so...

Ours (which is in the attic) looks like this

Speaking of gaming - I love all sorts of games - from tic tac toe to chess, from old maid to bridge, from Stratego to well, anything. I own an xBox. Our first video game console was the Odyssey. I have had two NES's - both stolen - from the same house - on successive years (sad story that). I love to play pool. I wasn't a big arcade gamer, but did enjoy a few. Played lots of games on the computer and still like to. I don't have a lot of games on my phone - but the two I have currently (well, I have three but I don't play one of them too frequently) are bridge (yay!) and Word Jigsaw. I love them both and use them as rewards or time fillers.

Anybody want to play?

Mid Sleep Musings

Here it is, 4:21 am, and I am writing. I went to sleep around 11:30 pm and woke up around 3:20 am. I do plan on going back to sleep. Really. I do not have a "big" day in store. But I do have things I would like to accomplish and a little more sleep would be a good thing.

I have started a couple of blog posts. Ones that will probably never be seen by others. Posts that are a little on the soul searching, or radically honest, or sadly, maudlin sort (I am not drunk, btw). The reason I am writing these, I think, is to get the thoughts out of my system. Catharsis. Purging. Cleansing. Whatever. "Better out than in" is one of my mantras.

Well, that's depressing - I just saw that donating clothes is generally a bad thing for the world economy. How freakin' sad is that? And the advice for what to do instead sounded less than optimal as well. Poo. Double and triple poo even! Did I mention, poo?

Ok, I did go back to sleep and slept for a few more hours. I can't tell anymore if I am tired or if I am fully rested. I guess that means that I am still tired. Or maybe it means I am fully rested. Who the heck knows? Actually I just yawned, big time, so maybe I am still tired. Maybe I will nap later this afternoon. Oooh, that would be nice.

I had a momentary (well, a couple of minutes worth of) scare yesterday. As some of you have garnered, I play a good amount of xBox. (Right now, I am playing two games - not simultaneously, but alternately - I have a backlog of purchased and unplayed games and I am trying to work my way through them all - I enjoy collecting, and I enjoy finishing, and I enjoy playing - makes me feel I am being somewhat productive...) While playing, there was a surge and the power went out briefly. But the xBox seemed to have died. I did all the trouble shooting that I could think of and eventually, after unplugging the transformer/surge protector that comes with the device, all was well. Phew!

Another thing I do quite a bit is play bridge on my iPhone. I don't know how many hands I play a day, but it is more than 3 and less than 2,117. (Not many fewer probably...) It helps me to think, relax, meditate even. Sometimes while I am playing I will have minor, or not so minor, epiphanies.

I visited Red Dove and Microclimate (local establishments) both again recently. I really need to find a place to hang out when I do go out. I miss Leaf Kitchen. I just don't feel like hanging out at any of the places here in Geneva. And driving to neighboring towns, although not that far, is a bit on the tedious side, just for a drink and some hangage. And of the places I have visited there, none also stand out as places I would like to spend a bunch of time. I miss the Saucer and my table. Waaa.

Packing Problems

The problem with packing is that it always falls off...ok, that isn't really the problem with packing. It will take me about ten minutes, once I actually start to do it. I love traveling in the car. That way I can toss in anything that won't fit in my suitcase. I need sweaters or at least warm middle garments as Maine is going to be a few degrees colder than it is here. Instead of packing, or getting ready to go to class, I am typing a bit - I would like to post this before heading off into the Sunrise. Well, the sun will already be well up in the sky, but we will be heading East.

Yesterday we had breakfast for dinner. Yay! Scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon and French Toast. Yippee! And I played a lot. Sigh. Oh, then it was game night! And we played bridge! I think that Charles and James are getting the hang of it.

And I put the garbage out! I know, big news! That's what you all read this blog for, to know when I put the garbage out...

Ok, back from class and time to get cranking!

Photos from Sunday, November 20, 2011:

Skyrim is going with me to Maine...

So, not so appetizing looking - it was a yummy dinner, though!

Yay trash!

Smelled Like Bacon

Last night's dinner was breakfast - bacon, eggs, veggies and a piece of French toast. I went to bed smelling like bacon. Sigh.

Yay bridge! Last night at game night, we had a bridge class. Daniel and I had played before. Charles had learned a little last week and James was interested in learning. He also said his wife wants to learn as well. More bridge converts! Yippee!

Not a lot happened yesterday. I finished Fable III for what that is worth. I wrote a couple of bad limericks. I don't write a lot of poetry, but when I do, I prefer to write something in a structural mode rather than other stuff. A little grocery shopping. I thought about Spanish studying a few times. (Does that count as actually studying?)

Oh, had a weird nightmare that AIG and State Farm merged. Where did that come from, I wonder. They didn't, did they?

Another oh! A friend turned me on to a show from England called Misfits. Has anyone seen it? I saw the first episode and thought it was great!

Well, that was exciting...

Pictures from November 6, 2011:

Coleslaw in progress

James perusing the dummy (cards on the table, not me...)

More Guilty Pleasures

What a great phrase, "guilty pleasures." Anyway, I do have a bunch of them. Like playing games on the computer and on xBox. Yes, I do play xBox and would play other game machines if they happened to appear before me. On the computer, I play a lot of bridge. Much more fun to me than solitaire. True, I am playing alone (I have had some less than optimal experiences playing online bridge and other card games) so it is still sort of like solitaire. And I am playing a Facebook game called Garden of Time - a hidden object game. For which I need to harass my friends to join me in the game so that I can continue it. Or fork out money, which, as many of you know, can be a challenge. And there are other guilty pleasures, but those are all I am going to fess up to at this point. (So, if any of you are a) on Facebook and b) like hidden object games, please become my friend and neighbor - soon. Thank you.)

Mom and I had errand day again! We went and picked up the mail, most of which was pretty useless. I did get the three Wheel of Time Audio Books that I had ordered. Yippee! That brings the total that I have to 8 (of fourteen, I think). What is very, very weird is that one of the books costs way more than any of the others. Book 9 costs $120 while the most any of the others cost is around $50. What is that about? Anyone? I sent a message to the company, asking them, and if I hear anything, I will probably post it. We went to the library and got out a book that Marlo Thomas wrote. Then to the supermarket where we spent quite a bit on groceries. Our supply of vegetable matter was quite low due to our recent trip. Lastly, we went to Lowes to look at composters. I am not sure what to do about that. Any suggestions are welcome.

At one point, while checking my mail, as I do fairly frequently when I am procrastinating, I found a message from one of the three young Turkish women that I met a couple of weeks ago. Yippee! We ended up meeting out and discussing various subjects, including their desire to do more than hang out in Geneva. I am hoping I can help them to explore some of the attractions around the area. We shall see.

I am looking for 5-10 people to proofread the next draft of Diary of a Plate Addict - these need to be people with attention to detail - who will notice when there is a missing space in a sentence, when a graphic looks badly cropped or just doesn't seem to fit correctly on a page, when a sentence is too mangled or bizarre or out of place and needs to be fixed. Anyone?

Can anyone believe that I have made it this far, taking a picture a day and posting every day for 181 days! Woo hoo!

Pictures from June 30, 2011:


Aren't they pretty?


Oops, still haven't gotten 'round to neatening my room after emptying the containers of stuff from Clayton.


Aren't they pretty? No, wait, I just said that. I meant, um, oh, right, that is what I meant...

Bridge

I first started playing bridge when I was about ten. My mom mostly taught me, and I learned a lot through osmosis, and reading. The story is told of my father earning his way across the ocean by playing bridge. I wonder how that worked...we have very low stakes bridge. But I am getting ahead of myself.


Ever since learning to play, I have always kept my eyes open for a game. I was never really interested in become a Bridge Master, playing duplicate, getting masters points and all that. I really just like playing "gutter" bridge. A lot of gut bidding in other words. I have played in a wide variety of situations all over the world. The funniest was playing bridge in a bus in China with some of my students.

When I moved to Raleigh, I looked for ways to get out of the house. I found a bridge group that met in a rec center in Fuquay Varina. A long drive to be sure, but it was a consistent thing. I think there was only one time that I recall that we didn't have enough for at least one table (four people).


Anyway, that was 10 years ago or thereabouts. Since then, we have stopped playing at the rec center and are taking turns playing at people's houses. Last time was at Jo-Anne and Ted's house - and we had three tables! Eeek! It was still fun, though.