Confessions of a girl gamer... Part 1

So, I have a confession to make.

I am a girl. And I play video games.

I have played them for years, and listened to the blah-da-blah-blah experts that say playing video games makes you dumb, or violent, or antisocial square-pants.  I don't think I'm dumb (although I do still have issues spelling "awesome" because I'm never sure if I should leave out the middle "e"), and so far I'm not violent (haven't killed a single, solitary person in my whole life!) and as for an antisocial square-pants... didn't Huey Lewis tell me it was Hip to be Square?

Anyway, I grew up with games. The first one I remember was Zork... have you ever played Zork? Guess what... there weren't any pictures! It was all... reading.  Here's a stunning screenshot:

Are you impressed?  Yes, that's it... and it was awesome (with an e in the middle). You type in commands like
> Open mailbox 


> Kill thief 
With what? 
>Kill thief with knife


> Open grate. 
The grate is locked.

I spent *hours* on this game, figuring out puzzles, and avoiding being eaten by a gru (horrid underground creatures that ate you if you got caught in this underground labyrinth without your lamp on).  I corrupted my sister in the efforts to also make her a dumb, violent square-pants, and we sat up in the computer room figuring out puzzles for a bunch of games for hours at a time, and hand-drawing maps of the imaginary worlds.

Maze in Zork. These were the "graphics" back then.

She eventually stopped playing with me because "the baby was crying" or some such nonsense... but I'll get her back into it, I vow.

There were other games, like "Deadline" where you had to solve a murder mystery, but had a time limit to do it, so you only had a certain number of moves before something pivotal happened (a phone call) and you had to do your part to get a clue (pick up the handset and eavesdrop on the conversation.)  That was my first taste of not loving time-pressure games... I enjoy the wandering around and being able to pause and think before acting.

Our family got our first video game console when I was about 8 or so? We didn't have the ColecoVision or Atari that the "cool kids" had.  We had... Intellivision.  Some of my favorite memories from there:

Snafu!

Auto racing

My favorite (I think) was Pitfall.  At some point, someone told me that if you went far enough in one direction, you meet the "Princess" and save her and get a treasure chest.  I remember sitting in front of that screen for hours, swinging on hundreds of vines, stepping on hundreds of alligator heads... and never reached the end. (Turns out there wasn't one.)

Pitfall

My love affair with games continues, although now I'm a PC gamer (with an occasional foray into Playstation games) and I'm also a graphics geek... I love anything that looks amazing. I'll post more about my favorite games through the years in future posts, I'm sure.

I tried to revisit Zork a while ago and just didn't have the patience for it.  But if you want to give it some effort, most of the Infocom games (including Zork) are online...and free... (including Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is just about as much fun as the book!)  Feel free to check them out here: Free Online Infocom Games or I think a bunch are also available as free apps for iPhones and the like.

More posts on gaming will be in the pipeline, I'm sure... I mean, after all, the more dumb, violent square-pants there are in the world, the better, in my opinion...

Delusional Bride

Wedding Don'ts

When you get engaged, there are no shortage of ridiculous things that people feel the need to sell you.  Don't even get me started on the fact that that if you want to buy a "long, white formal gown" you can get a gorgeous one for about $200.  But if you want to buy a "wedding gown" the dress will look exactly the same, but the price goes up by about 1000%.

But there are other things that are pretty outrageous, too.  I've decided to let you know what we are NOT going to have at our wedding:

Bunny-ear headpieces

This bridesmaid's outfit

This cake topper

Mullet dresses

A cake shaped like the bride (or anyone else)

Cartoon characters

Butt-bows of unusual size (BBOUS's)

I'm absolutely, 100% sure that this post will just be the first of many blog postings along these themes...

Crotchety Crochet

A few years ago, I started crocheting. I do need to get back into it, but all I ever really ended up making were a bunch of scarves and a funny looking pointed hat.  It's still a fun hobby that is much better for me than biting my nails.

But I got nothin' on this woman...  Here are the before and after photos of one of her most famous works...

Before....

..and after.

...and her video of the process is below...

Facebookery

I've been pondering today the world of Facebook today.  Just so you know, I have a 411 friends...and none are complete strangers. Apparently, in the FB world, this is fairly pathetic. And if I were in high school, I would be considered even more pathetic. Fortunately, I rarely take offense at the word "loser" because most of the "losers" I know are some of the most fascinating and engaging people I know.  But I digress...

The people I have friendships with are an interesting bunch, and how they've fit themselves back into my life is really kind of wild.  There's one woman who I went to high school with (let's call her H) and I haven't seen her since.  That's 20 years, for anyone counting. She posts photos of everything... her kids gap-tooth smiles after losing teeth, or crying hysterically because they have Play-Doh stuck in their hair for the second time in one day. Lounging on the couch on a Friday night with her husband, doing absolutely nada.  Today, H posted photos - "before" and "after" shots of the dog getting a bath...and it's wonderful. I can't quite put my finger on why. It's my opinion that the impact that Facebook has on our social relationships has yet to reach some conclusion. There hasn't been enough time to figure out how it will impact kids who know nothing else, or how we who watched it emerge have changed. But from personal experience, these glimpses into people's lives that I haven't seen or known in years gives a sense of almost family...and I doubt most people even realize the impact they have. H likely has no idea how often she makes me smile. Isn't that wild?

One of my photo experiments

Several people on my FB friends list I've never technically met - only virtually, while playing games online.  One in particular (we'll call her S) does crafts by the dozens, and bakes, and has shared with us her stories of life's successes and challenges... and her friends (including myself) post words of encouragement when she has a rough week, or congratulations when she got her new job.  S isn't someone I've ever met, or probably ever will, but we share these things with each other and inspire each other. She's the one who got me to start blogging again.  Sharing my experiments in photography have come from her posting her own crafting successes and failures, and laughing at herself along the way. Again...Inspiring.

One person in particular who I am friend with, I also knew in high school, but once again, didn't speak or see one another for almost 20 years. And then, we became "friends" because I thought "if we have so many friends in common, I'll just add 'em right in."  I recall making a comment about a cheesy science fiction movie ("Blade 2", if I recall correctly) and after a few bantered comments, we decided to meet to catch up over coffee one afternoon.  Two years later, we're engaged to be married. Weird.

I understand the concerns - the loss of interpersonal relations, privacy concerns, obsession with status....  Taking Facebook too seriously is like living life based on text messaging... you miss some some important nuances and it's no substitute for a hug. But overall, I really can't knock the Facebook trend too much. It's become a place where I can see photos of my far-away family as their new babies grow up or post best wishes to a long time friend who was in the hospital but lives too far away to visit.  It's where I can make jokes or tell little stories, or even just post a cartoon that made me laugh. It's fun, inspiring, frustrating, annoying, illuminating, and sometimes mind-numbingly bland... but isn't real life just like that, too?

The ghost of Halloween past...

I know it's a little early to be posting Halloween stuff, but I just HAD to post this after finding it in my old photo albums...

That's me (the witch), my sister (the ghost) and I have no idea who that is in the middle...

The Great Garlic Experiment

Let's get this out there right away:  I'm no chef.  About 2 years ago I decided to start teaching myself how to cook, and so far, I have a dozen dishes that I would say are pretty down pat, and some general talent in the kitchen that has resulted in almost no need for a fire extinguisher.  I'm proud of that.

But I do love a good "kitchen trick".  And today, I came across this video:


How to Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds from SAVEUR.com

Now this is intriguing!  I don't hate peeling garlic (I love garlic too much to hate it) but if there's a way to avoid the flakes of parchment-like skin that float around the kitchen; the sticky fingers after hand-peeling each clove and the general time-consuming process it usually takes, I'm all for it.

Here are the results of my experimentation:  Here's my garlic:

One head of garlic.  Slightly old, but hey, whatever. Step one:  Smash with the heel of your hand. Notice in the video, the way his garlic head splits apart into many pieces and the papery peel goes every-which-way.  Notice mine...which didn't do that. At all.  I just sort of smooshed the top of it: 

My first thought on this was that it is too humid - the garlic skin isn't crispy-paper like I think it should be. (To be fair, my first thought after smashing the garlic unsuccessfully was "Oh, ^@(*^$@)# that HURT!")  So I peeled the garlic open a little instead: 

Ah, that looks better.  Next, I put it in two bowls and shook it like crazy, just like he said.  Ten seconds later, here's the result: 

Of the 10+ garlic cloves, two were peeled! Just like in the video!  The rest were still wrapped in a little paper, but I'm thinking that fresh, dry garlic might actually work a bit better than my old garlic did.  Still, this is a pretty cool trick!  I did notice that the garlic cloves were a little bruised afterwards, but if you use it right away, I'm sure it's totally fine. Yay!