Rae September 22nd, 2008
I am still healing from my procedure on Thursday. I can talk but still find eating to be a challenge. I am still taking some light pain meds as a management precaution. Today was my first day back at work. It went good for the most part. By the time noon rolled around the pain was setting in from the tylonal wearing off. I was glad today was an hour short for that reason.
I am ready for a steak.. ok maybe not but soon.
Rae September 18th, 2008
I just came back from my dentist appointment. Now I am in the recovery mode. I have to keep the gauze in for 2 hours. I can’t pick up anything below the waist, including the baby for 24 hours. I already feel the numbness going away and the pain starting up. The dentist had fun with one of them. I thought for a min that he was going to put his foot on my chest for more leverage. The roots were soo long. I just hope that this heals with no issues. I am doing my part to follow the directions they gave me for recovery.
Rae September 16th, 2008
So today I went to the dentist to see what they can do about my wisdom tooth that is giving me issues. I knew they couldn’t really mess with it right now because of the infection in the surrounding gum. So they gave me pain meds YEAH! and antibiotics .. BOO! (yeast city here I come unless I eat a ton of yogurt) I get to go back on Thursday for a 3 tooth marathon because not only do they want to take out the one bothering me but the one beside it and another of my wisdom molars that is heading the same route. I just don’t have enough room in my mouth for the teeth God blessed me with .
I have been avoiding the dentist for years for two reasons. 1st reason being that it cost a fortune for dental care. 2nd reason being that I have never taken care of my mouth the way I should and always need work done. I think I might have had one visit as a child that I didn’t need something done. I even spent 3 years in braces as a teen. So now I sit waiting for this traumatic event to come. The doctor seemed very nice and said that I shouldn’t be nervous since he has to do all the work. I just have to relax and sit there. I think I am going to bring my mp3 player if they will let me. I am not looking forward to this.
Then in a few weeks I will go back for the new patient treatment to find out what else they want to do to my mouth. The only way I am even doing this is that I got approved for their dental credit plan. It is just one more bill I am not looking forward to paying and we really can’t afford.
Chuck September 11th, 2008
Once again I am a full time student. After 20 years I have decided it was in my and my families best interest to go to college. I graduated from a technical school 20+ years ago, but at today’s standards, the education I got back then is purely useless. I hope 20 years from now I don’t have the same results!
I have been attending school for nearly 4 weeks now and it has been a little difficult to keep on top of things, but I am doing it! One of my classes is English or Communications. I feel I am pretty well written and have decent grammar and puncuation usage for my age and lack of a formal education. I am not happy about all the papers I am going to have to write between this class and psychology, but it is a requirement and I am not about to stop now… this is only the beginning! Rae helped me go over my final draft of my first assignment just before I was to turn it in. It was due at midnight on Wednesday, and it was already about 11:20 pm. We both thought it turned out pretty good so I submitted it. We shall see what kind of grade I get :). For your reading pleasure, I have posted my paper below. Let me know what you think of it!
MMORPG: A whole new world
The massively multiplayer online role-playing game community is a fusion of life that many are unaware of, yet a growing number of people are consumed by it. The term MMORPG was coined by Richard Garriott; one of the original game developers of “Ultima Online” in the late 1990’s that started this whole other way of life. It is interesting to know that prior to Garriott’s “UO” as it was later shortened to, virtual worlds did not really exist on a large scale.
The introduction of MMORPG’S sparked the imagination of millions and gave people a glimpse into a new virtual world. Within this new world characters can be created to take on a life of their own, full of fun, adventure, and new friends. Virtual reality was something that once only existed in movies, but today it can be accessed on the internet by anyone that has one of these games.
The idea that separates these game worlds from other games is the way they exist. The technology behind these MMORPG games enable tens of thousands of people to play on them simultaneously, which provides us with the MMO (massively multiplayer online) part of the term. Most of these games do not just “end” or have a “winner” but they continue to evolve, just as we do in regular life. When you shut down the computer at the end of the night after a few hours of playing with your new online friends, your virtual world and all the items you found and places you explored will still exist. Things will happen while you are gone as life continues within the virtual world, because the virtual world never rests.
Some of the games that offer such a virtual reality are the MMORPG titles of Ultima-Online, World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings. The titles I have mentioned are my favorites, and they offer a virtual world that is set in a medieval sort of lifestyle. In this medieval setting a lot of folks feel the RPG part of the term exists (role-playing game). Many tend to “act” or “play out” particular roles they feel their characters portrait.
I first entered into these virtual realms around the year 2000. Since then I have actively played at least one of these online worlds for months and even years at a time never giving any thought to stopping. Yes, reality does call, but virtual reality is always there when you have a few spare moments to “get away” from the real world.
It is interesting to see how these online worlds sometimes collide with the real world. At times, these worlds can be a place of forum where people from all over the world argue about real life issues like war, poverty, and politics. It is easy meeting new people within these virtual worlds to explore with and talk to. In the 8 years I have played, I managed to make one of my virtual friends my real wife, and today we are happily married with 3 children. With virtual worlds about, who needs a match-making website?
The continued expansion of these virtual, never-ending worlds open new doors to people who cannot afford to get out to meet new friends. It is also a fairly inexpensive way of having endless fun with friends and family. These worlds offer people that may otherwise be shy an outlet to be what they want to be, and to break out of their proverbial shell and become more social.
Be warned, however, that even though I have spoken of good things involving these worlds, they also have a negative side. You cannot always believe everything you are told, especially online. There will be people in these games that will be friendly until they get all your “virtual gold” and then disappear into the pixels never to be heard from again. A possible side effect of these virtual worlds are that they can sometimes be habit forming and so consuming that they can be a hazard to your health. People have been said to develop serious problems ranging from carpel-tunnel syndrome to real addictions to their virtual worlds.
The positives out-weigh the negatives in MMORPG gaming and I would encourage readers to try one of these games out. There are many others out there, so find something that suits you.
As technology continues to evolve, so will our online worlds. Virtual reality games are here to stay and I look forward to entering the next new world. Prepare for the addiction of MMORPG!
Rae September 9th, 2008
The month of August brought a lot of changes to our household. Chuck started at the local college as a full time student studying to get his associates in computer science. I started working as a personal assistant part time to help with the change in income. So Chuck is now at home with the kiddos while I work. Right now it is working out ok, except that I need to find more income generating things to do. I will stay on as the assistant, but I need to find some more work or Chuck needs to get a part time job also. Things are going to be tight to say the least. I just got finished putting in our changes to medicaid for the kids insurance. I can’t wait to see what hoops they send flying at us to jump through. The local medicaid office has been automated so now if you want a real body to talk to you either have to wait on the phone for what seems like an eternity (and hope they don’t make you call back) or drive to the center of the state. Thanks Jeb Bush for that one. Like it wasn’t hard enough when we had to sit all day in the waiting room.
Ok so I am getting on a side topic. Any who, things are changing. I know they will be for the better in the long run. We just couldn’t keep digging the same trench. I am going to also try to get myself sorted for college. I have a few tests I need to take before I can apply. At least we are trying to make something better of our lives and show our kids that even us adults can learn.