So the thirty nine spinal taps and two neuro surgeries that I have had, have yet again conspired to make my life and back torture. I wander off to the docs after putting up with it for a couple of months(cause I hate going to docs) and he pulls out the muscle relaxants. Now the Flexeral he tells me will knock me on my butt, but he promises the other stuff won't and I can take it during the day and it will be just fine. Just fine my large padded posterior!! I am like a zombie on this stuff and weird things just stick in my mind.
As I am laying on the couch possibly even drooling out the corner of my mouth an ad comes on fro a station re-running Battlestar Galactica. Whooooo Hoooo goes my little geek brain, yeah Apollo and Starbuck hubba bubba. Then some essence of reality hits and I realize its the recent show. Man that show and I didn't get along.
See in my little world Starbuck is a guy, end of story, more importantly it is a young Dirk Benedict.
Back in the early 80's I wasn't into anything, didn't read books wasn't aware of pop culture or anything. Then I saw that show, Battlestar Galactica and my world changed forever. Some where hiding in my DNA was the geek gene and this just happened to be the thing that turned it on. Whole new worlds opened up to me, I started demanding to see any film that was remotely Sci-Fi. I drug my parent to Star Wars, Conan, saw Excalibur, saw anything that was other worldly. Then my world got opened further.
A co-worker of my mother must have taken pity on me and handed me a book. He told me to read it and that if I liked it he had a lot more that I could borrow. He handed me a book entitled "The Riddle Master of Hed". Again doors blown off my existence, books and lots of books had these mysterious worlds that I enjoyed. After that book he put the single most important series into my hands against my moms wishes. He handed me Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings". For years whenever we had traveled to Denver to see my mom's family there was this underpass that was scrawled with the phrase Frodo lives. I never understood it until I read the book.
Soon I was reading everything, Frank Herbert, Piers Anthony, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Howards, all the main writers; my mother on the other had was having a small fit as she didn't understand any of this. I had posters of dragons, of wizards, of star ships hanging on my walls. I didn't follow the normal teenager mode of ways. I got interested in science but not math(in my world numbers and letters don't combine) and was a whiz in any English class that I was put in. In 10th grade we had to either read Shakespeare's, "Julius Ceaser" or read about King Arthur. My teacher decided to keep opening my mind and gave me a copy of "Mists of Avalon" to read instead, he thought I might like a alternate view of that historical time period. And at the same time my history teacher gave me Umberto Eco's book "The Name of the Rose" to read for history and was I hooked. History was now the thing for me.
I loved to read the books of any author and think about how the history of that world might have been, what drove those characters to do that, how the political shape of said world was created. I practiced being a historian in my mind as I read and read and read.
Then the next level of geekiness appeared in my life in the form a of a medieval re-creation group who came to my school to do a demo for the 9th graders. Well I was sucked in faster than you can say bob. I went to lunch with them and by the end of the week I was attending dance practice and bardics with this group. And what was fabulous about this group of people they accepted me with all my inherent geekiness and other personality quirks and made me feel like I had a home. I joined them in 1984 and am still a member. The group's name? Why its the Society for Creative Anachronism and they are still the people that even today twenty five years or so later that I want to hang with. .
Friday, March 30, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Sibling worship?
So as many of you know almost three years ago my life was blessed and given a rare little gift. I thought that at age 41 I was about to be done with parenting as all my children were now over the age of 18 and the hubby and I would have the second have of our lives to ourselves; but that is not what happened. We were given another round of parenting in the form of our first granddaughter. Neither of her biological parents really wanted to raise her. The sperm donor seems to have the idea that fatherhood doesn't mean providing for your child and my daughter(we call her Sar) doesn't want to give up her life of fun and partying either. Little miss could have been adopted but sperm donor refused to give up rights(again a strange concept about fatherhood is residing in his head), so my hubby and I took her in.
Now this wasn't easy as we had just retired after 25 years of service in the Air Force and the economy tanked out at the same time. So while hubs went to college to get the degree that he needed in the civilian world to do what he had been doing in the AF, we struggled financially. Sperm donor never supported his daughter at all, in fact he has seen her 8 times since she was born. Sar doesn't even live with us anymore and never comes to visit little miss. She told me once that she doesn't love her or want her at all. So up we step to be parents again.
Now when my kids were born I was in my twenties, had energy and could go with out sleep. Not so much now, those midnight wakies were pure torture. But we pushed on and worked through a lot of things and have mostly made it out ok. Little miss has totally bonded with me and the hubs but more amazing is that she has decided to worship the Boy.
The Boy is my oldest child, my only son and he is not a outgoing type of personality. He likes little kids ok as long as he doesn't have to deal with diapers, bottles and crying fits. But the funny thing is, is that Little Miss adores him. She will follow him around the house like a puppy. She wants to talk to him on the phone or through the Xbox when we are playing games online. She will eat something simply because the Boy was eating it.
Now, we find this highly amusing as she will knock on his door in the morning to see if he is awake, yell "Hi" to him as soon as his door opens and let him touch the all important blanket. But last night we had to send him back up to Fairbanks for the last two months of college. She was not happy at all.
My normally equable little miss had turned into a full on angry badger of a child. Nothing made her happy. She kept crying and being angry and we tried to talk with her but she couldn't articulate what was wrong. This morning however she told me, I went into the Boy's room to make the bed and open the drapes and she sat on the floor and told me that she wanted him back. She pointed at his bed and told me he wasn't there. I told her that no he wasn't but that he had to go back to school. He would be home in 2 months. She pouted at me and told me to turn on the Xbox. I think she was hoping that he would be online and she would hear him.
I have never encountered this type of sibling relationship before, my kids were close in age and were contemporaries of each other, not a twenty year difference in age. I am not trying to minimize this either as I think its important that Little Miss have a sibling bond of some sort. We have started a countdown where she can cross off the days until he comes home and we are talking with her about how sometimes people come in and out of our lives. I hope that she will understand but its hard to put in to terms for a 3 year old to comprehend.
The Boy is looking at finishing college back here in Anchorage as it will be cheaper then in Fairbanks and I for one am thrilled about that. The Boy and I are very similar in our personalities and I still miss him when he is gone. I am sure that Little Miss will be absolutely enthusiastic about him being home. I know that the Boy has even talked with me about how to get her to go hiking and other things he can teach her. He may be her uncle in reality but really he is her big brother and it has been amazing to see this bond grow.
Atypical Life in AK
Now this wasn't easy as we had just retired after 25 years of service in the Air Force and the economy tanked out at the same time. So while hubs went to college to get the degree that he needed in the civilian world to do what he had been doing in the AF, we struggled financially. Sperm donor never supported his daughter at all, in fact he has seen her 8 times since she was born. Sar doesn't even live with us anymore and never comes to visit little miss. She told me once that she doesn't love her or want her at all. So up we step to be parents again.
Now when my kids were born I was in my twenties, had energy and could go with out sleep. Not so much now, those midnight wakies were pure torture. But we pushed on and worked through a lot of things and have mostly made it out ok. Little miss has totally bonded with me and the hubs but more amazing is that she has decided to worship the Boy.
The Boy is my oldest child, my only son and he is not a outgoing type of personality. He likes little kids ok as long as he doesn't have to deal with diapers, bottles and crying fits. But the funny thing is, is that Little Miss adores him. She will follow him around the house like a puppy. She wants to talk to him on the phone or through the Xbox when we are playing games online. She will eat something simply because the Boy was eating it.
Now, we find this highly amusing as she will knock on his door in the morning to see if he is awake, yell "Hi" to him as soon as his door opens and let him touch the all important blanket. But last night we had to send him back up to Fairbanks for the last two months of college. She was not happy at all.
My normally equable little miss had turned into a full on angry badger of a child. Nothing made her happy. She kept crying and being angry and we tried to talk with her but she couldn't articulate what was wrong. This morning however she told me, I went into the Boy's room to make the bed and open the drapes and she sat on the floor and told me that she wanted him back. She pointed at his bed and told me he wasn't there. I told her that no he wasn't but that he had to go back to school. He would be home in 2 months. She pouted at me and told me to turn on the Xbox. I think she was hoping that he would be online and she would hear him.
I have never encountered this type of sibling relationship before, my kids were close in age and were contemporaries of each other, not a twenty year difference in age. I am not trying to minimize this either as I think its important that Little Miss have a sibling bond of some sort. We have started a countdown where she can cross off the days until he comes home and we are talking with her about how sometimes people come in and out of our lives. I hope that she will understand but its hard to put in to terms for a 3 year old to comprehend.
The Boy is looking at finishing college back here in Anchorage as it will be cheaper then in Fairbanks and I for one am thrilled about that. The Boy and I are very similar in our personalities and I still miss him when he is gone. I am sure that Little Miss will be absolutely enthusiastic about him being home. I know that the Boy has even talked with me about how to get her to go hiking and other things he can teach her. He may be her uncle in reality but really he is her big brother and it has been amazing to see this bond grow.
Atypical Life in AK
Monday, March 12, 2012
No Pizza and No Beer Ever Again
So three years ago I was woeful sick and in pain and the doctors were kind of mystified at what was going on. Anemia, digestion issues, vitamin deficiencies, weird problems with my skin, fatigue etc... Well one doctor started looking at all of it together and said to me one day I need you to have an endoscopy done. Excuse me is what I was thinking, get a tube shoved down my throat for pictures. I really wanted to argue the point but she trumped my arguments with the simple words, "I think I know whats wrong" Ok you win.
So after that test to which I might say they sedated me into a blissful state of non-awareness, I was approached by the docs. My gastro doc sat down next to me and said this.
"Well I am sorry to say that you can never have pizza and beer again, however you can have all the run and tequila to drink that you want. You have Celiac Sprue."
Me, being still rather groggy was like ok, no beer no pizza what does that mean. What it meant was no gluten ever again, period ever, end of sentence.
Now I was 41 years old at this point and I so remembered what bread and pizza and bagels and cookies and all the other good foods tasted like. But as I was told I could no longer eat anything made with wheat, rye, barely, and malt. Even oatmeal might give me issues. I was not a happy camper thinking that my diet was now going to be really dull.
So fast forwards one week from there and suddenly my hair had stopped falling out, the pain was gone, the digestion issues gone. I felt rather human for once. It was wonderful; seriously I could move again, I was no longer tied to my bed and the bathroom, I could get and do things. It was taking my legs a little longer to heal than we thought as the anemia had been so advanced that my nerves in my legs were not cooperating, so I has to use a cane for awhile (I had a cane that looked like House's cane). After one month I was almost completely back to health.
Now whats hard about this besides the diet is the fact that I have people who still want ,even now, to try and foist wheat products on me. They are like, oh one bite won't hurt you, or come on its only a little bit. I succumbed around Halloween that first year to half of a Twizzler (second ingredient is wheat) and two days later I was hospitalized cause the wheat had caused issues with the skin, shorthand its called DH, (I can never remember the full name) and it promptly had become infected with staph aureus. Yeah not. I spent two miserable months on high strength antibiotics to make sure the staph didn't set up shop in my lungs or heart. I got a reaming from my doctors and they promptly sent me to a dietician in order to help me with the diet.
So three years later I have been completely gluten free except for a few incidents of cross-contamination that have been painful, and please don't ask me try another cookie. My family, mom and sister, have not been helpful too much. My mom complains that I make it difficult for her to cook for family holidays. My sister who shows the same symptoms doesn't seem to grasp that if you give up the wheat permanently it helps, not just giving it up for a month or two.
MY husband and kids however deserve medals for what they have done. They have adopted the same diet so that I don't feel alone. We have researched and tried together various GF (gluten free) foods. Some have been very good and others have just hit the trash. We have learned not to eat out much as even if they offer GF it can be cross contamination issues, Outback Steak House has been my go to restaurant. I haven't been to a fast food place in ages now.
The best thing is what the diet has done for my blood tests. As a result of having to eat healthy I have dropped my cholesterol into normal ranges, my inflammation level has dropped to normal, the anemia is resolving and generally my body has been thanking me. So yeah I can't eat pizza as you know it but my hubby makes a killer GF grilled chicken pizza that is better than what we used to eat before and well there are some GF beers out there that taste like beer.
Yes the diet is hard and today is one of those days when I really crave and item that is not GF and they haven't made a substitute for it. I wanted a croissant so bad this morning. Seriously craved it, but there is no GF equivalent for puff pastry as yet. So some days are a breeze and others are still hard but to anyone who has just been diagnosed with Celiac or another gluten sensitivity trust me when I say you will make it. It takes some will power and personal strength to adjust to it all but your body will thank you. Just remember that even pizza and beer isn't out after all
So after that test to which I might say they sedated me into a blissful state of non-awareness, I was approached by the docs. My gastro doc sat down next to me and said this.
"Well I am sorry to say that you can never have pizza and beer again, however you can have all the run and tequila to drink that you want. You have Celiac Sprue."
Me, being still rather groggy was like ok, no beer no pizza what does that mean. What it meant was no gluten ever again, period ever, end of sentence.
Now I was 41 years old at this point and I so remembered what bread and pizza and bagels and cookies and all the other good foods tasted like. But as I was told I could no longer eat anything made with wheat, rye, barely, and malt. Even oatmeal might give me issues. I was not a happy camper thinking that my diet was now going to be really dull.
So fast forwards one week from there and suddenly my hair had stopped falling out, the pain was gone, the digestion issues gone. I felt rather human for once. It was wonderful; seriously I could move again, I was no longer tied to my bed and the bathroom, I could get and do things. It was taking my legs a little longer to heal than we thought as the anemia had been so advanced that my nerves in my legs were not cooperating, so I has to use a cane for awhile (I had a cane that looked like House's cane). After one month I was almost completely back to health.
Now whats hard about this besides the diet is the fact that I have people who still want ,even now, to try and foist wheat products on me. They are like, oh one bite won't hurt you, or come on its only a little bit. I succumbed around Halloween that first year to half of a Twizzler (second ingredient is wheat) and two days later I was hospitalized cause the wheat had caused issues with the skin, shorthand its called DH, (I can never remember the full name) and it promptly had become infected with staph aureus. Yeah not. I spent two miserable months on high strength antibiotics to make sure the staph didn't set up shop in my lungs or heart. I got a reaming from my doctors and they promptly sent me to a dietician in order to help me with the diet.
So three years later I have been completely gluten free except for a few incidents of cross-contamination that have been painful, and please don't ask me try another cookie. My family, mom and sister, have not been helpful too much. My mom complains that I make it difficult for her to cook for family holidays. My sister who shows the same symptoms doesn't seem to grasp that if you give up the wheat permanently it helps, not just giving it up for a month or two.
MY husband and kids however deserve medals for what they have done. They have adopted the same diet so that I don't feel alone. We have researched and tried together various GF (gluten free) foods. Some have been very good and others have just hit the trash. We have learned not to eat out much as even if they offer GF it can be cross contamination issues, Outback Steak House has been my go to restaurant. I haven't been to a fast food place in ages now.
The best thing is what the diet has done for my blood tests. As a result of having to eat healthy I have dropped my cholesterol into normal ranges, my inflammation level has dropped to normal, the anemia is resolving and generally my body has been thanking me. So yeah I can't eat pizza as you know it but my hubby makes a killer GF grilled chicken pizza that is better than what we used to eat before and well there are some GF beers out there that taste like beer.
Yes the diet is hard and today is one of those days when I really crave and item that is not GF and they haven't made a substitute for it. I wanted a croissant so bad this morning. Seriously craved it, but there is no GF equivalent for puff pastry as yet. So some days are a breeze and others are still hard but to anyone who has just been diagnosed with Celiac or another gluten sensitivity trust me when I say you will make it. It takes some will power and personal strength to adjust to it all but your body will thank you. Just remember that even pizza and beer isn't out after all
Friday, March 9, 2012
Why I Live in Alaska
Why would anyone want to live in Alaska? Good question, do I have a good answer, probably not. Do I have an answer, oh yes do I have an answer for you.
See I grew up all over the American mid-west. North Dakota, Montana, and Colorado for the most part. I hated everywhere that I lived. North Dakota was way way to flat for me. Now for those of you that love seeing for miles in every direction its a great place for that. There weren't enough trees or mountains for me. Colorado had the mountains but they aren't right there in your face. They hang off to the west of Denver taunting you about hiking, skiing, and other outdoor activities. Eastern Montana was a repeat of North Dakota. Then my mother and step-father #2 had a great idea, let's move to Alaska. See that's where he was from, and he decided we would be better off there.
So packed up everything and stuffed it into an old school bus that we had to paint blue, apparently privately owned school buses can't stay yellow so we had to change its color, and then stuffed us into the Suburban and headed north. Let me tell you that trip was not exactly fun at points but I did learn something, I am not high maintenance. I was fine with the roughing it part. Sleeping in the car, cooking over a itty bitty hibachi grill and just enjoying the scenery. Mom wasn't to happy, she wanted a restaurant and hotel. Grilled steaks and the occasional mosquito was not bad really. Step-father #2 told me he thought I would fit in well in Alaska, I had the right mentality for it.
Now as we progressed to the state I was swept away by the mountains, and the forests, and all the wildlife. I saw my first bald eagle, Dall sheep, moose, bears, wolves and so many more on that trip. I remember walking on the very first glacier that I had ever seen. It was the Matanuska glacier and it was spectacular. There was this wildness to Alaska that I had never experienced before.
I also discovered that Alaska had oceans!!! Seriously I had never really seen the ocean before. The sound of waves breaking over that shale covered beach was something that has stayed with me always. So the trifecta of things I had to have near me in my environment to make me happy consisted of this: oceans, mountains, and forests. I am an unhappy camper when those things are not present.
I met my hubby when he was in the Air Force and I knew that we would eventually have to move, they were cruel. The Air Force moved us to San Antonio Texas. Those were the longest eight years of my life. Then we were moved to Utah, ok so it had mountains and kind of, sort of, forests (they are really sparse). After four years there the Air Force said how about going back to Alaska. YEAH!!! was the answer. My kids were even excited. So I got to come home and move back to Anchorage, my house is up against a huge wooded park and moose visit often, so do the bears but I can really do without their visits. Two blocks away is the trail head to a long trail that takes you right up into the mountains. We are not talking about some large trail that is paved or anything, this is bring water and gear type of trail, with streams to ford and moose to dodge and tons of birds and just once a wolverine skittered across the trail in front of us. I can drive less than twenty minutes and be in the wild.
I may be the only person you meet that is blase about seeing moose and bald eagles. Seriously, they are everywhere. I know that tourists go nuts to see them but after awhile up here they are somewhat common. I am more excited to see rarer animals. I have seen herds of caribou crossing the highway as I drive to Fairbanks, seen wolves, bears, but oddly enough the one animal I haven't seen, alive that is, is the porcupine. I see them tragically on the roads during the summer but just once I want to see one doing porcupiney things in the wild.
This morning though when our 2 year old decide five thirty was a great time to get up, I let the dog out and high above my house was a spectacular display of northern lights. They were green, pale pink, and a shimmering white. They darted across the sky, pulsing, creating elongated curtains of light that changed between one breath and the next. I was entranced, didn't have a coat on, didn't notice the snow that got into my slippers. I just stood there and watched in silence as nature gave me a celestial rock show. I told myself this is why I life here, this beauty in nature and the emotions it creates. Alaska has wormed its way into my soul.
Now mind you this is not to say we don't have weirdness up here but that is another story.
Atypical Life in AK
See I grew up all over the American mid-west. North Dakota, Montana, and Colorado for the most part. I hated everywhere that I lived. North Dakota was way way to flat for me. Now for those of you that love seeing for miles in every direction its a great place for that. There weren't enough trees or mountains for me. Colorado had the mountains but they aren't right there in your face. They hang off to the west of Denver taunting you about hiking, skiing, and other outdoor activities. Eastern Montana was a repeat of North Dakota. Then my mother and step-father #2 had a great idea, let's move to Alaska. See that's where he was from, and he decided we would be better off there.
So packed up everything and stuffed it into an old school bus that we had to paint blue, apparently privately owned school buses can't stay yellow so we had to change its color, and then stuffed us into the Suburban and headed north. Let me tell you that trip was not exactly fun at points but I did learn something, I am not high maintenance. I was fine with the roughing it part. Sleeping in the car, cooking over a itty bitty hibachi grill and just enjoying the scenery. Mom wasn't to happy, she wanted a restaurant and hotel. Grilled steaks and the occasional mosquito was not bad really. Step-father #2 told me he thought I would fit in well in Alaska, I had the right mentality for it.
Now as we progressed to the state I was swept away by the mountains, and the forests, and all the wildlife. I saw my first bald eagle, Dall sheep, moose, bears, wolves and so many more on that trip. I remember walking on the very first glacier that I had ever seen. It was the Matanuska glacier and it was spectacular. There was this wildness to Alaska that I had never experienced before.
I also discovered that Alaska had oceans!!! Seriously I had never really seen the ocean before. The sound of waves breaking over that shale covered beach was something that has stayed with me always. So the trifecta of things I had to have near me in my environment to make me happy consisted of this: oceans, mountains, and forests. I am an unhappy camper when those things are not present.
I met my hubby when he was in the Air Force and I knew that we would eventually have to move, they were cruel. The Air Force moved us to San Antonio Texas. Those were the longest eight years of my life. Then we were moved to Utah, ok so it had mountains and kind of, sort of, forests (they are really sparse). After four years there the Air Force said how about going back to Alaska. YEAH!!! was the answer. My kids were even excited. So I got to come home and move back to Anchorage, my house is up against a huge wooded park and moose visit often, so do the bears but I can really do without their visits. Two blocks away is the trail head to a long trail that takes you right up into the mountains. We are not talking about some large trail that is paved or anything, this is bring water and gear type of trail, with streams to ford and moose to dodge and tons of birds and just once a wolverine skittered across the trail in front of us. I can drive less than twenty minutes and be in the wild.
I may be the only person you meet that is blase about seeing moose and bald eagles. Seriously, they are everywhere. I know that tourists go nuts to see them but after awhile up here they are somewhat common. I am more excited to see rarer animals. I have seen herds of caribou crossing the highway as I drive to Fairbanks, seen wolves, bears, but oddly enough the one animal I haven't seen, alive that is, is the porcupine. I see them tragically on the roads during the summer but just once I want to see one doing porcupiney things in the wild.
This morning though when our 2 year old decide five thirty was a great time to get up, I let the dog out and high above my house was a spectacular display of northern lights. They were green, pale pink, and a shimmering white. They darted across the sky, pulsing, creating elongated curtains of light that changed between one breath and the next. I was entranced, didn't have a coat on, didn't notice the snow that got into my slippers. I just stood there and watched in silence as nature gave me a celestial rock show. I told myself this is why I life here, this beauty in nature and the emotions it creates. Alaska has wormed its way into my soul.
Now mind you this is not to say we don't have weirdness up here but that is another story.
Atypical Life in AK
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Flying my gamer geek flag proudly!
Ok who said women my age can't be gamers? Yesterday was the release of Mass Effect 3!! Whoo hooo to those who game, time to take back Earth. I realize that those of you who don't game are scratching your head and going huh? Bear with me for a bit and you will understand the anger I felt yesterday.
Headed off to my Game Stop store to pick up my collectors edition of the game, I did mention I am a geek right? Well. I walk in and I am the only and I mean only woman in the store. There are about 50 guys in there. Some fit the stereotype of the "typical" gamer guy geek thingy but others didn't. Heck there was even a guy in a suit getting his copy. So there I am standing in line being polite while two of male clerks keep taking guys who are behind me in line before I explain to them that I was next.
This little man about 18 or 19 looks at me and tells me he thought that I was with one of them cause well I'm a girl. The other clerk asks me what can help me with, I hand over my ID and game stop card and tell them I am here to pick up my game. While he is looking up my stuff and getting it, the little punk looks at me and says, "You're picking this up for your son right?"
"No," I replied. "My son is getting his own copy this is mine."
"Can't be yours, women your age don't game."
Excuse my brain wanted to say, what do you mean women don't game! I gave that boy a withering look, you moms know it the one you give your teenage children when they have just done something stupid and there are no words stronger than that look. I calmly looked at this young man who has just earned my ire and told him that I have been playing video games for over ten years and that there are plenty of women my age who play video games. You would think that he would have just figured out to drop it but nooooo he had to press.
"No, I don't know any women or girls who game, they just say they do."
I am drawing myself up to unleash hell on this boy and the other clerk has gone into the back to retrieve the manager. The manager comes out and tells the young clerk that it is time for him to take a break from the counter and go stock. He turns to me, actually he knows me (I have been a regular customer at this store for ages). He apologizes and says he will talk to him. I tell him that the young man needs to apologize to me. Stereotypes are not ok, Yes there are reasons why stereotypes exist but that doesn't mean they are correct.
I am a gamer geek, seriously I own an N7 hoodie and several t shirts from Bioware that pertain to favorite games. I have a statue of Noble Team from Halo Reach in my bedroom. But if you were to see me on the street you would think, hmm slightly overweight stay home mommy. But there is more than that to me.
Everyone has different aspect to them and some are not what you expect of that person but that is what makes them unique and beautiful. I for one enjoy being around people that are rich and complex, with a mind that is capable of entertaining many thoughts all at once. I don't really care what they look like either, as long as they are true to themselves that's fine.
So here's to my friends who are geeks, gamers, steampunk aficionados, SCA people, English lit fiends like me, or what ever else they love. I love them all.
Headed off to my Game Stop store to pick up my collectors edition of the game, I did mention I am a geek right? Well. I walk in and I am the only and I mean only woman in the store. There are about 50 guys in there. Some fit the stereotype of the "typical" gamer guy geek thingy but others didn't. Heck there was even a guy in a suit getting his copy. So there I am standing in line being polite while two of male clerks keep taking guys who are behind me in line before I explain to them that I was next.
This little man about 18 or 19 looks at me and tells me he thought that I was with one of them cause well I'm a girl. The other clerk asks me what can help me with, I hand over my ID and game stop card and tell them I am here to pick up my game. While he is looking up my stuff and getting it, the little punk looks at me and says, "You're picking this up for your son right?"
"No," I replied. "My son is getting his own copy this is mine."
"Can't be yours, women your age don't game."
Excuse my brain wanted to say, what do you mean women don't game! I gave that boy a withering look, you moms know it the one you give your teenage children when they have just done something stupid and there are no words stronger than that look. I calmly looked at this young man who has just earned my ire and told him that I have been playing video games for over ten years and that there are plenty of women my age who play video games. You would think that he would have just figured out to drop it but nooooo he had to press.
"No, I don't know any women or girls who game, they just say they do."
I am drawing myself up to unleash hell on this boy and the other clerk has gone into the back to retrieve the manager. The manager comes out and tells the young clerk that it is time for him to take a break from the counter and go stock. He turns to me, actually he knows me (I have been a regular customer at this store for ages). He apologizes and says he will talk to him. I tell him that the young man needs to apologize to me. Stereotypes are not ok, Yes there are reasons why stereotypes exist but that doesn't mean they are correct.
I am a gamer geek, seriously I own an N7 hoodie and several t shirts from Bioware that pertain to favorite games. I have a statue of Noble Team from Halo Reach in my bedroom. But if you were to see me on the street you would think, hmm slightly overweight stay home mommy. But there is more than that to me.
Everyone has different aspect to them and some are not what you expect of that person but that is what makes them unique and beautiful. I for one enjoy being around people that are rich and complex, with a mind that is capable of entertaining many thoughts all at once. I don't really care what they look like either, as long as they are true to themselves that's fine.
So here's to my friends who are geeks, gamers, steampunk aficionados, SCA people, English lit fiends like me, or what ever else they love. I love them all.
Friday, March 2, 2012
If its March, must be start of disaster season.
So its now March and here in my little slice of Alaska we have 119 inches of snow (which is a dirty word this winter) lying about on the ground. We only need 13 more inches before we hit the record. I am so good with not hitting that record, really I am. As I look out the window what do I see that its doing again.... snowing.... really seriously do I look like I want anymore snow this year.
Up here in Alaska we are anxiously looking towards this strange little seasons called break up. Its not spring and its not winter its this messy thing in between. Sometimes its short and sweet, melts inside a week and then ta da spring. Other times its a slow lingering mess of thaw and freeze that causes small lakes to appear where only the day before you swore there was a road. And to make it oh so much more fun there are potholes, some the size of small cars (or so it seems like) and they love to lurk at the bottom of these temporary lakes just to make the alignment of your car go out of whack.
I feel for the poor pedestrians at this time of year as well some drivers just delight in driving through those lakes when they see someone walking and send that water gushing up and out over the sidewalk rendering the walker into a sodden frozen mess. I think that the pedestrians should be allowed to shoot the tires of those idiots and make them walk.
See I think that we are going to have an awful break up this year cause the city has been, well, lax about moving some of the snow in the city. For instance there is a snow pile that is a story and half tall and takes up so much of the circle that there is only a half a car lane left. Now in the summer and fall if you park your car there for more than 24 hours you get ticketed for blocking the ability of emergency personnel from reaching the houses. But its ok for the snow to block it. Heck you should have heard the garbage men on Monday morning, they were not happy and wow did not know that their range of swear words was that incredible. The mailman has threatened to not deliver mail anymore cause the boxes keep getting buried by city plows. We have those mailboxes where all the blocks mail is in one giant complex thingy and its on city land, yet the mailman is yelling at everyone that if it isn't cleared no mail. So what to do, call the city of course. What do they say, they say that the city is not responsible for it and its the mail services job (remember the boxes are on city property) and no they have no plans to remove the snow regardless if the garbage people can't get through. Singularly the most unhelpful phone call ever. They were polite but exasperated like they have gotten this call a million or more times.
So all this snow is hanging about in the street. There are huge piles everywhere and the storm drains are buried under several feet of snow. When the melting comes you will be able to take a canoe for a trip down the street I expect. I am sure that there will be over flowing creeks, backed up sewers, and flooded houses when that snow goes, cause sure as snow falls, we will have the worst possible break up that mother nature can think of. Its been that kind of a year.
I have visited my greenhouse to find out my waders to make sure that they are in good form, thinking seriously about getting a pair of extra tuffs this year. I might just need them. Then I think I might need to find a flotation device for the dog when she goes into the backyard during all of this. I am sure that there will be puddles of epic proportions taking up most of the yard. And yet some how by the end of May it should all be gone and dried up just in time for fire season.
Atypical Life in AK
Up here in Alaska we are anxiously looking towards this strange little seasons called break up. Its not spring and its not winter its this messy thing in between. Sometimes its short and sweet, melts inside a week and then ta da spring. Other times its a slow lingering mess of thaw and freeze that causes small lakes to appear where only the day before you swore there was a road. And to make it oh so much more fun there are potholes, some the size of small cars (or so it seems like) and they love to lurk at the bottom of these temporary lakes just to make the alignment of your car go out of whack.
I feel for the poor pedestrians at this time of year as well some drivers just delight in driving through those lakes when they see someone walking and send that water gushing up and out over the sidewalk rendering the walker into a sodden frozen mess. I think that the pedestrians should be allowed to shoot the tires of those idiots and make them walk.
See I think that we are going to have an awful break up this year cause the city has been, well, lax about moving some of the snow in the city. For instance there is a snow pile that is a story and half tall and takes up so much of the circle that there is only a half a car lane left. Now in the summer and fall if you park your car there for more than 24 hours you get ticketed for blocking the ability of emergency personnel from reaching the houses. But its ok for the snow to block it. Heck you should have heard the garbage men on Monday morning, they were not happy and wow did not know that their range of swear words was that incredible. The mailman has threatened to not deliver mail anymore cause the boxes keep getting buried by city plows. We have those mailboxes where all the blocks mail is in one giant complex thingy and its on city land, yet the mailman is yelling at everyone that if it isn't cleared no mail. So what to do, call the city of course. What do they say, they say that the city is not responsible for it and its the mail services job (remember the boxes are on city property) and no they have no plans to remove the snow regardless if the garbage people can't get through. Singularly the most unhelpful phone call ever. They were polite but exasperated like they have gotten this call a million or more times.
So all this snow is hanging about in the street. There are huge piles everywhere and the storm drains are buried under several feet of snow. When the melting comes you will be able to take a canoe for a trip down the street I expect. I am sure that there will be over flowing creeks, backed up sewers, and flooded houses when that snow goes, cause sure as snow falls, we will have the worst possible break up that mother nature can think of. Its been that kind of a year.
I have visited my greenhouse to find out my waders to make sure that they are in good form, thinking seriously about getting a pair of extra tuffs this year. I might just need them. Then I think I might need to find a flotation device for the dog when she goes into the backyard during all of this. I am sure that there will be puddles of epic proportions taking up most of the yard. And yet some how by the end of May it should all be gone and dried up just in time for fire season.
Atypical Life in AK
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