Computer to Console to Computer

This is really a continuation of my previous blog where I noted that I started computer gaming as a substitute for playing Dungeons & Dragons.  Of course, that meant I played RPGs.  And at that time, it meant that I played western RPGs.  During those years in the early 1990's I didn't keep up with everything gaming.  I didn't own a console of my own (well, anything newer than an Atari 2600) but I played with friends on their consoles.  So, I was surprised when a friend told me about a type of RPG that was played on consoles, one that I hadn't heard of - a JRPG!  What?!?  Of course I had to try it.

I tried it, and I was surprised that I did not like it.  I was as surprised as my friend; it was a highly rated and hugely popular JRPG.  I tried to like it, but if you have to try to like something there is something wrong.  I just couldn't get over the fact that I couldn't create my own character.  That was half the fun of playing an RPG!  I would spend forever creating a character.  Depending on the RPG, I could choose my appearance, class, race, sex, alignment, abilities, skills, religion, and I would have a backstory in mind.  Sometimes, I would just create a starter character to see how the game played out before I created my "real" character because not all warriors play the same and a mage is not a wizard just as a druid is not a cleric.  It seemed like in a JRPG, you were dumped into a character and there wasn't much roleplaying to it.

I couldn't tell you how many times I was ripped out of the game by a dialog or action choice.  When the image I had in my head of my character did not correspond to the options given.  This only seemed to happen in a console JRPG.  I don't remember playing a western RPG on my computer in which the game came to a complete stop as I said to myself, "I wouldn't say this.  I wouldn't do that."  Sometimes I would have to pause for a significant length of time, hours or even days, before I could bring my head around to having my character take the best of two (or more) bad choices.  I hated that and it took the fun out of the game for me.

So, I stuck with computer gaming.  That is until the newer consoles came out and wonderful RPGs were available.  But that is the topic of another blog.

A History

Here is just a little history - my history - my gaming history. OK, so here goes ...

Pong came out when I was a teen. The first time I played it was at a family get-together in a pizza place during the 1970's. I loved it! But soon after I joined the military and went to college, and I didn't have much time while for gaming while getting established in my career.  When things calmed down a bit, I bought an Atari 2600 gaming system and of course, I got Pong.  Asteroids, Space Invaders, and a multitude of others soon followed. I played as much as I could, and ended up with a relatively small video game collection.

Then I found a new love - TSR's Dungeons and Dragons, the original table top role playing game.  At the time, it was still a new game and I remember all the negativity the media associated with the game.  But that didn't bother me.  I was still in the military and a few like-minded individuals and I formed a group.  We created characters and had grand adventures!  Sessions would end up lasting all night.  We had a wonderful dungeon master who was able to think on the fly and was able to improvise.  My favorite memory was a fight in a magic shop after an adventure.  It was just supposed to be an interlude to reequip but instead, ending up eclipsing anything that had occurred before.

Then personal computers first came out. I spent weeks deciding between the merits of the two top contenders of the day - the Commodore 64 and the Apple IIe,  After debating the pros and cons for hours with friends, I ended up with one of the first Apple IIe's. What a great system!  My first computer game did not have any graphics, it was the text-only adventure game Infidel!  I had to map out where I was, using paper and pencil, as the game progressed!

Even to this day, I don't think anything can compare to a text-only game.  It was a perfect combination of reading a book and playing a video game.  The lack of graphics seemed to enhance the experience.  It just allowed your imagination to establish the world, in a way that is still unique.  I remember getting stuck in a game. Not knowing what to do, I typed "Throw my hands up in the air" and the game responding "Your hands go flying over the tree". Zork, Sorcerer and Moonmist joined my collection of text-only games.  However, I eventually graduated to games with graphics! True, they were only black and white (or black and green, depending on which computer I used). The first time I played a video game all night long was while sitting on alert in the military. My navigator and I traded playing levels on Lode Runner. There were no saves, if you used up all your lives, you had to start over from the beginning.

Then I got out of the military, and my forays into the world of D&D ended.  I hesitated to find a new group; I was extremely shy.  But my days of adventuring weren't over - role playing games graduated to computer gaming!   My favorite was Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord and I remember having to buy graph paper so I could once again make my own map. That was just the start of my love for old school computer RPG's. 

I ended up playing all three of the Wizardry games which eventually led to Might and Magic series, which after many years led to series of games like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.  Since then, I have played racing games, platformers, point-and-click adventures, puzzle games, first person shooters and strategy games. I have played handhelds, consoles and, of course, computers. I having been gaming for more years than many people who read this have been alive.  Boy!  Do I feel old.

Well, that is my early history of playing computer/video games.  In the next couple of days, I will chronicle my more recent adventures in gaming. 

No Luck in SWTOR

Ever since pre-launch in Star Wars: The Old Republic I have had the worst luck, especially with early access.  Every attempt to play in early access has been thwarted by something: computer problems, internet problems, download issues, or bugs in the game.  Most recently, Chapter 10 was bugged and no one could start early access on time.

Today, early access to Chapter 11 began.  And wouldn't you know it, I have problems!  My Sith marauder, Sa'die, was sent to Zakuul to try to recruit Aric Jorgan, the leader of Havoc Squad.  Well, it didn't go well.  Aric Jorgan was running around in his skivvies playing with a pretend gun.  Then he disappeared.  He even refuses to show up at the rendezvous point.  I guess he realized he wasn't wearing any clothes and is too embarrassed to show his face.  Or Havoc Squad realized that their leader had cracked and sent him for psychiatric evaluation.  So sad, really.

Sa'die in her war gear

UPDATE:
Well, I was finally able to shake the mission loose and reset everything.  Aric Jorgan has found his closet and was able to get dressed!  I started Chapter 11 over and was very happy. 

Hats of the Old Republic Part VI

Well, this will be my last "Hats" post for a while.  I want to find some fun ones before I do another blog on this topic; not  just head pieces I have in my inventory.

This is an interesting bit of headgear; it doubles as a painter's accessory - maybe something to dry a brush.

Remnant Arkanian Bounty Hunter

This one looks like Marvin the Martian with a severe case of deadly underbite.

Remnant Resurrected Bounty Hunter

The last two I found rather boring.  They weren't good enough to want to equip, but not awful enough to show off.  I am not sure if I will keep them or not.  I will have to decide if having a complete collection is important enough.

Remnant Arkanian Knight        and        Remnant Dreadguard Trooper

Hats of the Old Republic Part V

So many hats and so little... fashion.  I thought that it was time for more legacy headgear.  I decided to highlight the ugliest in this blog.

Today's first one reminds me of a baby pyramid head from Silent Hill 2.

Remnant Arkanian Warrior

The second piece of headgear another from the insect collection.

Remnant Dreadquard Agent

Number three in today's blog is inspired by an old-fashioned light bulb.

Remnant Underworld Warrior

And the last entry in today's blog must be my least favorite, ever!  I really dislike this one.  No wait! I need to be completely hones, I hate this one.  What is it supposed to be?  Curse of  the welding mummy?

Remnant Underworld Bounty Hunter

Hats of the Old Republic Part IV

Oh, it has been ages since I did a Hats of the Old Republic post!  My sweetie and I are still playing Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Four years later and we have still have ugly headgear, but new and improved.  We now have Legacy gear that we can pass to any of our alts.

This first one is a nice, basic helmet.  Not too bad.

Imperial Battle Ace pilot helmet

The second one is the other Imperial pilot helmet.  Not bad looking but it looks heavy and overwhelming.

Imperial Covert pilot helmet

Number three on today's list gives Sa'die a "lich" look, especially since I have the head slot color coordinated with the chest piece she is wearing.  The pinkish color makes it look like the skin has been peeled away.  Now, that makes me think "Ewww".

Remnant Yavin Inquisitor's Headgear

This last one on today's blog is my favorite out of this bunch.  This look is reminiscent of the original 1980's terminator.  I like the violet lighting feature on the side.

Remnant Yavin Warrior

I Just Wanted an Appointment

I have never liked going to the doctor and over the years it has gotten worse.  I get so anxious that when I finally get in the doctor’s office, my mind goes blank and my response to questions is either “Things are okay” or “I am fine”.  I am great at delaying and putting things off.  But I finally found a primary care doctor that I really like and trust so I decided to quit procrastinating and seek medical treatment for a condition that bothers me.  I had an appointment with him yesterday and he took a lot of extra time to discuss things with me.  My doctor wants me to get an ultrasound done, then go see two specialists, and then we will discuss the next step.

So, today I was determined!  My motto was “Get it done!”  I picked up the phone to call and schedule the diagnostic study.  I paused the TV and called the phone number on the referral.  A polite man answers the phone and gets all my information: full name, birthdate, complete address, phone number and insurance carrier.  Then he tells me they don’t schedule that particular procedure and he would have to transfer me.  I got his name and the number he was transferring me to “just in case… ”, and shortly thereafter I was speaking to polite woman.  We go through the whole routine again (name, birthdate, etc.) and once more I am informed that I have the wrong number, they don’t schedule that study, and I will have to be transferred.  This process happened again and again.  Sometimes I was able to get the person’s name.  Sometimes I was able to get the number they were transferring me to.  Some of the people I spoke with were great – polite and very helpful.  But some of them were rude and not the least bit obliging.  Usually, the transfer went just fine but several times I was disconnected from the system.

After thirty minutes and two rude people in a row, I started to get upset (one person insisted I was not in the system and the other said she couldn’t schedule the ultrasound without the order number even though I told her I had it on my copy and I could read it to her).  I was transferred one more time and the woman who I spoke with was polite and helpful but she would have to transfer me again!  “Just in case” I got the phone number and it was the same one I started with!  I lost it.  My hands started shaking and my voice got all quivery, and I told her I was really upset.  I told her that I had already called that number and they just transferred me.  I told her that all I wanted to do was get the diagnostic study scheduled.

She apologized profusely but had to put me on hold.  When she got back on the phone she told me that even though she didn’t handle the scheduling of the requested procedure, she would take care of it.  Once again I give all my information and, ta-da, I am scheduled for next week!  Now that was a great example of good customer service.  When I finally hung up the DVR on my TV said 40 minutes and 39 seconds had passed!  No wonder dealing with the medical community causes anxiety!

Kickstarter and Koji Igarashi and Bloodstained

By temperment, I am calm and even keeled.  I don't get overly enthusiastic or excited by many things.  In many ways I regret that, I feel that I miss out on something by not being more enthusiastic.  But a little more than four weeks ago, I got excited by a video game my sister-in-law saw on Kickstarter, "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night", being designed by Koji Igarashi.  Koji Igarashi, better known as Iga, spent twenty years at Konami designing video games.  His most well known works are Castlevania games, 2D side-scrolling exploration/action games.

According to an interview Iga gave Polygon last year, several years ago Konami moved him away from 2D Castlevania games to social games.  Iga freely admitted that he was unable to transition from the hardcore games he was good at to the social games for the casual market.  After several of his games were canceled, he quit Konami and decided to start his own company.  He wanted to make a gothic, exploration-focused action platformer in the style of Castlevania.

Iga went from publisher to publisher and was told "No" every time.  He finally found some financial backers but they would only fund him if he could prove there was still interest in his style of game.  Hence, Iga went on Kickstarter campaigning for $500,000 for "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night".  The campaign was to end June 12th.  My sweetie and I were excited and contributed on the first day.  Apparently, we weren't the only ones because Koji Igarashi reached his goal that first day.

As the campaign progressed, stretch goals kept getting met so new goals were added.  My sweetie and I checked the Kickstarter page several times a day over the four weeks of fundraising, monitoring Bloodstained's progress.  As the amount of pledges kept growing, so did my excitement, so much so that I insisted that we watch final four hours of the campaign streamed live on Twitch!  After $5,000,000 were donated, one last stretch goal was made during the live stream and that goal was more than met by the end of the campaign.  We had so much fun!

Crochet Patterns

Been doing tons of googling but not much that has inspired a blog post.  Mainly, I have been searching for crochet patterns.  I recently got back into crocheting after a 20-year absence but it feels like I never stopped!  My first project was a shawl using Lion Brand Homespun. 

My goodness, is that a challenging yarn to use!  The stitches end up not being very well defined and it was difficult to keep track of where I was on the pattern.  Also, the yarn kept getting "stuck" on the crochet hook.  In addition to the problems I was having with the yarn, the end of my crochet hook kept poking my hand and it was getting so sore I had to limit the amount of time spent crocheting.

I thought I would see if there were padded crochet hooks and I came across the Clover brand.  They were more expensive than other hooks but I decided to treat myself.  They are amazing!  Definitely worth the extra price.  The handles are nicely padded, color-coded, and most amazing of all they made crocheting with the Homespun yarn so much easier!  The yarn didn't get "stuck" and I was able to work must faster.  I love them and ended up getting about seventeen Clover crochet hooks!

Anyway, after completing my shawl I decided to make some dishcloths.  My biggest complaint about dishcloths is that they can end up smelling rather quickly so I wanted to make quite a few so they could be switched out often.  I got some cotton yarn and then I searched for crochet patterns.  I found several that were okay but... I don't know... they just didn't seem right.  So, I ended up with my own designs!  Below are my two favorites.

The blue one on the left was my first attempt and I decided to just make a simple square.  I skipped every other stitch in order to make an open weave so it would dry out quicker.  I also decided to use a strand of size 10 crochet thread with the strand of cotton yarn in order to increase its "scrubability".  This one has been used and laundered a couple of times already and works exactly as I wanted.  I went fancier with the one on the right.  I used two colors and made a more open weave.  I again used a strand of crochet thread throughout the dishcloth but this time I added an edging of picot stitches using three strands of crochet thread.  It makes for a great scrubby!

Crochet, A Personal History

Boy, it has been a long time since I posted any new blog!  Well, time to rectify that!

I was taught to crochet in the fifth grade by my German grandmother.  She used the perfect technique to teach a shy, introverted perfectionist.  My grandmother told me I couldn't make a mistake in crochet.  If I didn't like something, all I had to do was rip it out!  She taught me how to start, a chain stitch, and how easy it was to undo.  She told me to make a chain then rip it out and start over.  My grandmother told me to try different sizes and tensions, and when I had a chain I liked to come get her and we would go to the next step.

Then she taught me the most basic stitch, a single crochet, and how turn at the end of a row.  Again, she told me to practice and whenever I didn't like what I had, rip it out and start over.  She left but she would check in on me occasionally to answer any questions I had.  My grandmother would look over what I had done and instead of critiquing my work, she would explain.  For example, when my rectangle started looking much more like a trapezoid, she told me it was because I had changed the tension.  But it wasn't a mistake.  If I didn't like it, I could rip it out and start over or I could use what I had.  I didn't have a potholder, just add stings and I had an apron for my doll!  My grandmother taught me different stitches, how to decrease and increase, and then she set me loose!

This is one of my fondest childhood memories.  I even remember the yarn we used - a small ball of yarn left over from one of her knitting projects, dusty mauve in color.  I still have that first project around here somewhere - a combination doll hat/basket!   I learned how versatile crocheting. You can start crocheting anywhere you can get a loop.  Start crocheting in the middle of a completed piece to add a handle or get a three dimensional project.  Add crochet to a piece of fabric for a different texture or for a pretty edge.  Use yarn with a larger hook and you have an afghan, use thread with a small hook and you have a doily.

I crocheted for many years but then I suddenly stopped.  Recently, I was inspired and started crocheting again!  I feel like I am reunited with an old friend.  My first new project, a shawl, is done and I have several other projects beckoning.

London Beer Flood

Yesterday, October 17th, was the 200th anniversary of the London Beer Flood.  It sounded humorous and I chuckled so I thought it would be a good subject for a random act of googling!  But it turns out to be more of a tragedy than a comedy.

A London brewery, the Horse Shoe Brewery, had an enormous vat that held approximately 160,000 gallons of beer.  A metal band snapped causing the vat to burst open.  The resulting outpour broke open other vats which resulted in more than 250,000 gallons of beer to flood through the streets of the St. Giles neighborhood.  Reports related that a 15-foot tall tidal wave crashed into buildings, knocking down walls and flooding ground floor rooms and cellars.  A total of eight people were killed; some drowned, some were slammed into walls, and one was crushed by a collapsed wall.

The Horse Shoe Brewery was cleared of any liability and remained open for more than another hundred years.



Agrypnia

Insomnia – lying there at night, when it is dark and quiet but you just can’t get to sleep.  You glance at the clock and notice the hours as they slip by without being able to get to sleep.  Trying to shut off your mind, but the thoughts just keep coursing through your brain.  Getting up in the morning, tired and just wishing that you could get some sleep…  I like the word “agrypnia” better than “insomnia”; “chasing sleep” seems so much more appropriate than “sleeplessness”.

I have had lifelong agrypnia.  My first memory of agrypnia was when I was a preschooler.  I remember being glad when I learned to tell time in first grade specifically because of my agrypnia.  We had a mantle clock that chimed the hours and half hours, and somehow, it was comforting to know what time it was.  My agrypnia only got worse as I grew older, instead of being awake for hours at night, I began to be awake for the entire night.

I finally started doing some research about how to prevent insomnia in the 1980’s.  I followed all the recommendations: establish a routine, and go to bed and get up at the same time every day; don’t take naps; eat before you go to sleep (but don’t have a heavy meal); exercise before bedtime (but don’t exercise too much); avoid stimulants, such as nicotine and caffeine; avoid alcohol (wait, is that a depressant or a stimulant – oh, no, it is both!); only use your bed for sleep or sex – no TV, no reading of books (wait… read books but not anything stimulating); and most importantly – avoid stress and don’t worry!  Right…

For years, I followed this advice.  Do you know how hard it is not to take a nap if you haven’t slept much the night before?  And to this day, I don’t drink caffeine after my morning coffee; in fact, I avoid any soft drinks with caffeine.  After a while, it really annoyed me when I realized that it was all “Do this”, “Don’t do that”!  Experts were saying that it was my fault that I couldn’t sleep – my thoughts, my actions, my choices were preventing me from sleeping!

After years of trying to follow all the advice, I began to think “How dare you?  What makes you the expert?  Unless you have insomnia yourself, you have no reason to say anything!”  I even read an article that said insomnia was a learned behavior, and when I couldn’t sleep I was supposed to get up and do something I really hated, like washing the kitchen floor.  This was supposed to condition me to decide to sleep because the consequences were unpleasant.  Like being so tired but lying as hour after hour passed wasn’t unpleasant enough!  Like struggling though a day at work wasn’t difficult enough!

I decided that if the “expert” hadn’t lain awake for hours and hours at night, wondering why sleep was so elusive, I wouldn’t listen to them!!!  If the “expert” hadn’t personally experienced their own agrypnia, and not just an occasional sleepless night, then their advice was practically meaningless.  Trying to sleep is difficult enough without wondering what I have done to cause my sleeplessness.  That doesn’t turn off my brain at all.

Sigh…. I am really tired but I can’t go to sleep tonight.  Again!

You know what is the worst?  I googled insomnia remedies again this evening, and they haven't changed since the 1980's!  The same useless advice.  Oh, well.

Phantom Music

I haven’t written a blog here in a while for several personal reasons but it is time to shake off the shackles and write again so here goes…

Musical Ear Syndrome!  Or as I like to call it, phantom music.  Musical Ear Syndrome is a form of non-psychiatric auditory hallucination, also called Musical Hallucination or Musical Tinnitus.  Most people have heard of tinnitus, or ringing in the ears.  It is a perception of sound when none exists.  Musical tinnitus (or Musical Ear Syndrome) is when that sound is perceived as music.  Usually, victims hear musical noises ranging from vocals to instrumental music, and some even hear announcers or commercials.

Most people don’t talk about it because they are afraid of being accused of being mentally unstable or psychotic.  This might be a good time to talk about psychiatric auditory hallucinations.  Psychiatric auditory hallucinations are generally defined as voices talking to the victim (on a personal level), usually associated with schizophrenia or mania.  There can also be medical reasons for some auditory hallucinations, such as brain lesions or medication side effects.  Musical Ear Syndrome (or MES) does not fall into these categories.

As I mentioned above, most people don’t talk about it because they don’t want to be considered crazy.  But MES is becoming increasing recognized as separate from other auditory hallucinations making it easier for people to discuss it.  Experts believe that MES is related to hearing problems, and usually (but not always), is experienced by those with hearing loss.

I started googling this subject because I have experienced this phenomena myself.  Let me start by stating that I have a HUGE problem with insomnia.  Every few weeks, I have extreme difficulty getting more than a couple of hours of sleep several nights in a row.  I become an extremely light sleeper, and can be awakened by the slightest sound.  I have been awakened by the sound of the refrigerator coming on in the middle of the night, in the kitchen when I am in the bedroom, on a different floor!  In order to combat this, I turn on a fan in the room to help mask normal nighttime sounds.

Then, occasionally, I would be awakened by music.  I would assume it was my clock radio coming on - I would reach for the alarm clock and notice that it was hours before I needed to get up!  So where was the music coming from?  I would try and hunt the phantom music down but it was faint and difficult to trace.  The music was not coming from my clock radio, it wasn’t the neighbor, nor was it anything I could find to turn off!  The phantom music would last for a period of time lasting from about thirty minutes to a couple of hours.  I would get so frustrated!

I finally complained to my sweetie, and she googled it and told me about MES.  After researching it myself, I realized that my phantom music was triggered was my fan!  The item I used to mask noise was causing the phantom music that woke me up and kept me up!  It was such a relief to know that there was this thing called Musical Ear Syndrome, and I wasn’t the only person to experience it.

Now, when MES wakes me up in the middle of the night, I turn off the fan and am able to get back to sleep.  However, turning off the fan allows other noises to disturb me but for some reason, the sound of the refrigerator or furnace does not bother me nearly as much as the phantom music.

Papercuts Papercuts Papercuts

I know that I have made a couple of entries regarding papercuts.  The reason is that I know the artist, Elaine LaMarche, and we commissioned a piece of art.  Now, I am so excited!  I just have to give a shout out to Elaine LaMarche of E-Art Judaicuts - Noah's Arc won first place in an art show!  Woo hoo!  This beautiful piece of art deserves all of the accolades it has received.  Check out her stuff on her website and follow her on Facebook.

Noah's Arc



Frances Hodgson Burnett

This all started because I was looking for something new to read on my Kindle that was cheap! I have been rereading some of my favorite books so I decided to see if there was a free/cheap version of The Secret Garden or The Little Princess, both written by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  To my delight, I found the entire collected works of Frances Hodgson Burnett for under $3.00!

After downloading the book, I was surprised at how many books there were in this collection, so I decided to find out what I could about the author.  I was shocked at how little information is out there, and so much of it is contradictory!  For heavens sake, she didn't live that long ago.  She was born in 1849 and died in 1924 and her children's books are considered classics!  Well, that just made me more curious.

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Frances Hodgson Burnett was born in England and emigrated to the United States at the end of the Civil Way at age 15.  Some websites call her English and other call her American.  All agree that she started writing as a child and continued throughout her entire life.  I could not find any agreement on when her father died.  I read he died in 1852, 1853, 1854, 1865.  After his death, the family lived in abject poverty, genteel poverty, or gradually declining affluence.  However, everyone agrees that she supported her family with her writing.  I saw that she was successful enough to support her family starting at age 18, 19, or 20, and that she was not successful until much later in life.

Again, websites disagree about how many books Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote.  They range from just a few to thirty, forty, fifty and sixty.  Now, she is strictly known as an author of children's books.  But during her lifetime, she was apparently best known for her children's book or her historical novels or her books for adults or for her plays.  Speaking of her plays, I read that she was a playwright as well as that she didn't write plays, just that her novels that were dramatized for the stage.

Some websites say the critics loved Frances Hodgson Burnett and others say that the critics really disliked her, critiquing her more for her private life than for her writing.  She was considered scandalous.  She married and divorced twice, she earned her own money and controlled it herself, she liked fashion and travel, and was entirely too independent.

Most everything I read agrees that her first marriage was unhappy.  Frances Hodgson met her first husband, Swan Burnett, shortly after arriving in Tennessee as a teenager.  Swan Burnett became a doctor, and I read on one website that she put him through medical school with her earnings as a writer.  Or she just financed his advanced training.  Or her husband was Dr. L. M. Burnett out of Washington, DC.

The most interesting contradictions I found is regarding Frances Hodgson Burnett's second husband.  Some websites state he was an English doctor, a secretary, her business manager, or an actor.  One website stated that he blackmailed her into marriage in order to control her fortune.

With all the contradictions I found, I felt that I had to find out more about Frances Hodgson Burnett.  I downloaded her biography to my Kindle and I should be able to find out the true story of this fascinating woman.

Random Girls

I was taking a break and turned on the TV; Funny Girl was on.  It is a Barbra Streisand movie about and an early Broadway star, Fanny Brice.  And so begins my Google searching!  The movie took some liberties with the real life of Fanny Brice but Barbra Streisand depicted her fairly accurately.  I was surprised how differently Fanny Brice could appear in photographs.  I can definitely see the comedic actress but she wasn’t that ugly.

Fanny Brice

Next, I looked up the Ziegfeld Follies.  They were put on by Florenz Ziegfeld and were around for around 25 years starting around 1910.  I guess they were sort of a cross between more modern Broadway musicals and vaudeville.  The chorus girls, or Ziegfeld Girls, were famous for being beautiful, but I was surprised at how risqué most of their pictures were.  I guess they were the pinups of their time.  Reading a bit more, I found out that many stars got their start as a Ziegfeld Girl (but I recognized more that were turned down by Flo Ziegfeld).

Ziegfeld Girl

Lillian Lorraine was considered the most famous of the Ziegfeld Girls.  Apparently, she had an affair with Flo Ziegfeld and he loved her even after their affair ended.  I looked up her image and was surprised… I think she wasn’t that good looking.

Lillian Lorraine

Researching even more, I found out that the Ziegfeld Girls were preceded by the Floradora Girls.  Floradora was the first of a series of musicals during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that became really popular.  These chorus girls were not nearly as  risqué as the Ziegfeld Girls.  Amazing what a difference about fifteen years can make!

Floradora Girls

And before the Floradora Girls were the Gibson Girls.  I was expecting the Gibson Girls to be similar to the Floradora and Ziegfeld Girls.  But, instead of being chorus girls on stage, they were a illustrations by an artist, Charles Dana Gibson.  Not real.  In fact, very not real.  I know, that is not grammatically correct but I couldn't believe how unrealistic he depicted women.  He combined two different standards of beauty into an impossible ideal; he wanted a “fragile lady” with the “voluptuous woman”.  In order to reproduce the look of a Gibson Girl, women needed to lean forward and have a tightly cinched waist.  In fact, in order to maintain such a ridiculous posture, a special corset was developed to allow women to depict this artist's ideal.

Edwardian S-Curve Corset

Feeling Nostalgic

My search was a little different this time than what I usually do for these blogs.  Instead of trying to find out new information, something I hadn't heard of before, I used Google to verify the facts and make sure that I had things in the correct chronological order.  And I did have to research the correct name of some of my favorite games.  It doesn't help to say "You know, that game where the guy swung through the trees on a vine and jumped crocodiles."

The very first video game I ever played was Pong.  I was in high school and I loved it!  The only place I knew that had it was a pizza parlor that had several pinball machines and the one Pong machine.  I couldn't get to the pizza parlor because I didn’t have a driver’s license and there were no such things as home gaming consoles.  Pretty soon, other video arcade games showed up but they were pretty bad in my opinion.  It wasn't until I was in college that the good ones came out such as Space Invaders and Asteroids.  The golden age of Pacman and Donkey Kong came out after I graduated.

The first real home video game console to be released was the Atari 2600.  But we never got one before I went to college since money was tight back in those days.  So it took several years before I could afford to buy an Atari 2600 of my own.

I had to get Pong, of course, and Breakout which was a more advanced version of Pong but tipped on its side.  My other favorite games were Space Invaders and Asteroids, Adventure and Haunted House.  I had Pitfall, Berzerk, Missile Command and Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Other games included Dig Dug, Pacman, and Frogger.  There was even an educational one - Brain Games.  I even bought ET the Extra-Terrestrial.  Yes, that one - the video game that was so bad they buried unsold cartridges in the desert someplace in New Mexico; the game that was so bad it almost destroyed video games before they even got started.  In addition to the games I had all the possible controllers – the joystick, the paddle and a keyboard controller.  I continued to play for quite a few years, but after one move I never bothered unpacking my Atari 2600. 

But I still have all of that stuff around someplace.  I never get rid of things.

Night Owl

I have chronic insomnia.  I have had chronic insomnia for as long as I can remember, and it has always been difficult.  I seldom get a regular night's sleep.

I remember being glad to learn how to tell time in first grade.  We had this mantle clock that chimed the hours - at noon it chimed twelve times, at 1:00 it chimed once, at 2:00 it chimed twice, and so on.  When I was awake during the night, I knew what time it was by the chiming of the clock.  But I dreaded the time between 12:30am and 1:30am.  That was because the clock only chimed once for the half hours.  So if it chimed once, I wasn't sure what time it was.  It could be half past the hour or 1:00am.  And if it chimed once two times in a row, I still wasn't sure what time it was.  It could be 1:00am or 1:30am.  But if it chimed once three times in a row, I finally knew what time it was!  It was 1:30 in the morning!  And that was in the first grade!  Now, how many of you know 6 year olds that are awake for hours in the middle of the night?

Having insomnia has wrecked havoc with both school and work, but I have learned to get by with little sleep.  However, as I have gotten older, I sometimes I wonder if it is really insomnia or if I am just a Night Owl.  No matter how tired I am, if I remain awake until 10:00pm then I am remain awake for hours.  It is as if a switch is flipped at 10:00pm and, suddenly, I come alive.  If there is no social requirements for me to get up at a certain time, I naturally fall asleep around 2:00 or 3:00 o'clock in the morning and awaken sometime around 9:00 or 10:00 o'clock in the morning.

So, I decided that tonight's Google search should be the Night Owl.

First of all, Wikipedia is not very informative.  It just defines night owls as people  who stay up until late at night and morning larks as people who get up early.  Next, there were some businesses that had late night hours: bars and lounges and, for some reason, hookah places.  I was surprised by the next listing - sales of night vision goggles.  The first page on Google ended with several blogs ranging in topics from baseball cards to hair products.  Now, I don't know how any oft that is related to being a night owl, but the next few pages were even more baffling.  There were blogs about home decor, a Christian pastor, fishing lures and pediatric urgent care.  Not what I expected when I googled "night owl".

Video Game Muse???

Have you ever been inspired by someone?  Tried to emulate them and fail, miserably?  That happened recently.  I follow a blog in which the author recently spoke of her muses in the kitchen.  Based purely on memory, I thought a muse was an artist’s inspiration based on something Greek. Oh, and there were nine of them.

I looked it up and it turns out that there were nine Greek goddesses that inspired artists, writers and scientists.  So that inspired me to try and google gaming muses.  I thought I would eventually google something about video game inspirations but it was a total disaster!  First of all, google kept trying to correct it to “gaming mouse” instead of “gaming muse”.  When I finally got google to understand I wanted to search for “gaming muse”, I still didn’t get what I expected.  I got either foreign websites, stuff on tumblr, or something about Muse Software.  I kept going deeper into google to see if anything about video game inspiration showed up and when nothing of interest showed up, I switched to “video game muse”.  That didn’t turn up anything either.  <sigh> I am so disappointed.

So, do I write about my own muses in video gaming?  What inspired me to start gaming in the first place?  I don't know.  I am so disappointed but I might revisit this topic at a later time...

Ugly Wedding

The inspiration for today's post is something that showed up on my home page - a wedding video in which the bride and groom were made up as zombies.  Oh, it was sooooo ugly!  Most people want to look their best on such a momentous occasion.  I can understand bringing your own personality to a wedding but where you can't bear to look at your wedding pictures?  So, I wondered if it was very common that a couple wanted to be memorialized in that way.  So, let the googling begin!

I found several other zombie themed wedding pictures.  I can't imagine sharing these with your children or grandchildren!

Too much blood!

Too gruesome!

I saw quite a few other images of the bride and groom in a lot of makeup.  The most common seemed Shrek inspired weddings!  Shrek?  Green ogres?  Oh, well...



I wonder if this was a way of dealing with a cold outdoor wedding?

At least their makeup color matches.

Now, I really enjoy Star Wars, and so does my sweetie, so a Stars Wars themed wedding doesn't seem that outrageous.  But I can't imagine not being able to recognize the bride and groom!

General Akbar???

At least the bride got an ivory helmet to match her dress.