From The Sublime To The Ridiculous !!

I just found out I was nominated by Mary of Mary's View for an award called "Bloggers for Positive Global Change". Here is a direct quote from Mary's blog explaining what it is:

The progressive folks at Climate of Our Future created this award as a way to encourage or "blogging with a purpose". Those who receive the award may bestow it upon five other bloggers who they think are helping to “build awareness among their readership in order to create a more sustainable and enlightened future”.

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I'm not able to nominate other bloggers right now (I want to take my time and do it right!) but I will do so in the future.

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I'm very glad that my love of nature and our planet Earth was evident to Mary (and I hope others, too) and I will do my best to live up to this award. Mary's generous compliments make me blush and want to give her a hug.

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On our little plot of ground Steve and I have tried to maintain a, somewhat,

balanced environment without letting it all become wild. Probably 2 of the 3 acres is relatively untouched and we do have lots of wildlife. We have food and water out for the birds and shallow watering trays on the ground for non-winged creatures. Besides natural vegetation growing in the wilder areas, we've allowed Mullien, Milkweed, False Solomon's Seal, Solomon's Seal, and

Goldenrod to grown in our gardens. We've also planted lots of fruit bearing shrubs as well as wild flowers from our nearby Retzer Nature Center. Steve has built me a wonderful 3 box compost bin which we've used for many years and only Roundup is used to battle garlic mustard and buckthorn.

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I've always recycled glass, plastic, metal and newspaper and now we are able to recycle junk mail, magazines, etc. and all cardboard items. We have only about a bag and a half of garbage a week now. Any packing materials that come here I either reuse myself or take to work and use when I send out parts to our customers. We usually buy our chicken and eggs from an organic, solar-powered farm and also purchase tea and coffee from fair-trade companies over the internet. Since I have very little time to devote to physically becoming involved with worthwhile causes, I donate money to numerous conservation and human and animal rights groups. And, lastly (but not least), I try to elect officials who will take care of our planet and protect all creatures who share our beautiful Earth.

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And now on to the Ridiculous . . . .

I mention in my profile my love of video games. The rest of this blog I will explain that to you.

First the needed components to play a video game:

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1. A system - That is the machine you put the game disc into. I'm sure you've all heard the names PlayStation and XBox. I have PlayStation 2, XBox, and XBox 360 systems and there are some others also. I did own a PlayStation but gave it to my daughter years back. You see games are made for a certain system and only occasionally do they "cross-over".

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2. A game - That's pretty obvious. There are many different types of games that fit nearly any player. Some examples are racing, sports, army, shooters, arcade, (do you see a male orientated thing going on here??) strategy, action adventure, massively multi player on-line, and role playing. (Sometimes I think you need a pair of you-know-whats to play video games!!)

I don't have a pair but I really enjoy the role playing games. Most have to do with hero/heroine (yes, they are starting to have a "female" option) going on a quest and saving the world etc. There are numerous beasties to slay, items and money to amass, comrades and enemies to make and huge unknown and scary worlds to explore. It can be pretty heady stuff. Here is a picture of only some of the games I own:

The photo isn't real clear, but you can get the idea how pretty the covers are (doesn't that sound stupid?). They are not all role-playing - some are variations on fighting and army-type stealth. I've played through (key word - "through") some of them and those I care for almost as much as my beloved books. Others, such as the much bemoaned "Grand Theft Auto" series,

are fun to pick up and spend a few hours with. They all take you to somewhere where you (at least not me) could never go in this real life. (I'm very surprised that I make a pretty good sniper! Who knew?)

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What I'm playing now:

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The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion

This is a huge game with typical "save the world from evil" plot but contains numerous side quests and character development. I like the fact that it is not a "pressure game" that I have to make quick decisions in and can slowly move through at my own pace. Here are pictures of my female battle-mage (sort of like a fighting magician - think Gandalf). Her name is Cycanea Cour , a name I made up. I also made her look the way she does - she's a type of human- size elf (think Legolos). There are a number of races you can pick from and build on to as you desire.

... in her fighting regalia and some stats

.....with some items she has ...

... in a Medieval town she's exploring ..

I have to add that Oblivion has fantastic graphics and very pretty, almost classical music playing through-out. The characters all have spoken voices (many video games have written dialogue) and the voice acting is done by famous people (think Captain Picard on Star Trek something or other). It's very pleasing on the eyes and ears.

Game and Walk-through:

In complicated, big games such as Oblivion I really need a "walk-through" - a game guide that explains lots of things that aren't included in the tiny booklet that comes with the game.

There are lists of items, armor, enemies, potions, spells, and maps of the town, caves, dungeons and the game world in general. For me it is necessary. Also on the internet there are a number of gaming sites that have hints and cheats to use in a game.

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I do enjoy completely the other world of gaming. It is like a book that I can control and make things happen in. The only bad thing about it is the time that I take to play . So far I have about 70 hours into Oblivion and am no where near done! One of my first large role-playing games I totaled 120 hours! And I can only play on weekends and I usually don't play in the summer - it's more of a long winter night thing. So, as you might guess, I will be playing Oblivion for a long time. (P.S. I also have a sniper-stealth game going on the side - just for a little mindless action !)

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One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.

Jane Austen (1775 - 1817) Emma

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Bye for now,

Alyssa