Jabober

Women, read this book. Self-Made Man by Norah Vincent.

I have never read a book so completely revealing of the reality of the culture of men. Not only is an interesting perspective, Norah's style of writing and means of expression is mezmerizing.

Warning - there are many four-letter-words in it. Norah hides nothing; neither of her experiences or her own thoughts on the matter.

Posted by Tammy at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wenches and beer to keep the men happy. Guards and sculptures of dismembered body parts to keep the captives in fear. I pillage and loot to increase my hoard. I rub shoulders with the local governments to legitimize destroying ships. I kidnap the rich and famous to demand ransom. All the while, I have to keep enough food, drink and houses available to keep my men and captives alive. I have to keep our defenses up to avoid being invaded. I also have to keep other pirates at bay.

Tropico 2, where a pirate can be a pirate.

"Ahoy mateys! Time to set sail for another delightful cruise of blasting cannons and boarding ships. And if you bring me back enough gold, I'll grant you a fancy pirate hat, or maybe a parrot. Now, off with the lot of ya!"

Posted by Tammy at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, Adam Sandler ain't so bad. With Drew Barrymore in 50 First Dates, he does a pretty decent job as a romantic lead. The over-the-top gross jokes and silliness appealed to Yoshi. The romance, interesting twist at the end, and, ok, some silliness, appealed to me. A chick flick and a guy comedy rolled into one. Very well done indeed.

Posted by Tammy at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For those of you interested in my work as a homeschooling activist and writer, here's a link to Life Without School, where I was invited to be a regular contributor. I consider it an honor to be included on this website. The women who have been working on this project are an inspiration. They have put so much energy into their local homeschooling communities. They have also contributed significantly to the national homeschooling movement as activists for freedom of choice in education.

This blog is about living without school, with our own individual beliefs, reasons or perspectives (that often differ considerably). Robin, the webmaster, has put together a very well organized presentation of the issues that come up over and over again on homeschooling message boards, and in conversations we have with our friends and families.

Today, they posted my first submission. Enjoy!

Posted by Tammy at 02:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yoshi and I watched a movie last night.

That, alone, is noteworthy, and almost stands alone as an entry. What's even more worthy of mentioning is that Yoshi and I both liked the movie - a lot.

Finding Neverland stunned me with its subtley wrenching story of Sir James Matthew Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. It is a love story, a portrait of an author's struggle and a coming of age story all rolled into one. I won't say too much about what happens, because part of the magic is not knowing what's ahead, letting the imagination take flight, literally, along with the characters.

Although the story deals with adult social situations and is quite the tear-jerker, it's also appropriate for a child to view. Cameron watched the movie with us, and although he didn't understand a lot of it, he was bedazzled by the creative cinematography, as I imagine people of all ages would be.

See this movie, if you haven't already. But don't read any reviews or story synopses. Just let yourself fly away with the telling of the story.

Posted by Tammy at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last week, we were out of Diet Coke. So I ran to the store to get some more. It was a Sunday night, and the shelves were sparse with everyone's least favorite things. And, they were out of regular Diet Coke.

But look! They had this new "Diet Coke, with Splenda". How horrible could it be? It's just another sweetener. And we *really* needed more Diet Coke. So, I bought it.

Yoshi and I popped the can, and with the trepidation of tasting those concoctions they give you at vegetable-juice demonstration stands, we took a sip.

It was.... just... ew.

Next time you come over to our place, try some. On us. We have plenty left.

Posted by Tammy at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In order to make room for other things I'd like to do with my limited free time, I am no longer playing World of Warcraft. I really enjoy playing games, but I found that WoW was far too engrossing. Originally, I only wanted to take a short break from it, but after a few days of not playing, I didn't have the energy to log back in and try to pick up the grind. Eventually, I realized that I was done.

I'm looking for another game to take it's place - one that I can sit down and play anytime, for any length of time. Civ III Complete ranks at the top of my list at the moment. I used to play it long ago, before EQ and WoW. It was one of my favorite games. Taking over the world is fun.

But, in the meantime, what am I doing with the time that I have? First and foremost, I've been catching up on sleep. I've been going to sleep earlier, getting up earlier and falling into a better rhythm. I've also been working on "projects"; stuff that's been on my to do list for a while and I haven't had the energy or time to undertake. When I'm not sleeping or running after the kids, I've been working on writing projects, house projects, and computer projects.

I thought I'd watch more TV without WoW or EQ or Clanlord to entertain me. But so far, it hasn't drawn me in. Getting stuff done at this point (and sleeping) has been entertaining enough. Yoshi stopped playing EQ too, and we've been spending quite a bit of time talking and doing house projects together. I have to say, that's my favorite part - spending more time with Yoshi. A feat which has only been accomplished due to his change in gaming habits.

But there is a down side; I miss my online friends. So does Yoshi. There's a unique sense of community in online games. I would love to spend more time with online friends in RL, but it can't happen. We all have families or live far away from one another, and the online games were really the only way we had a chance to get together. I also miss the commoderie that's gained by having a group of people all working towards the same goal, needing each others' help to acheive something that nobody can do alone. Single player games don't have this element of companionship. It's like playing football by one's self. Football and WoW have a lot in common; WoW is just less dangerous.

I miss the conversations I would have with my friend, Dan, about different aspects of the games we played. I don't even talk to many of my online friends anymore because WoW was our only reason to chat. So, by leaving WoW, I've not only left a game, I've left a community. I've moved away.

I had the same feeling when leaving ClanLord, and even more so leaving EQ. But there are many times in one's life when it's necessary to weigh all the different considerations and make hard decisions. It's never easy to leave one's comfort zone, and it can be hard to replace the missing elements of a closed chapter. Ultimately, I think that leaving WoW is the right choice for me today, as much as I miss it. Maybe, one day, I might play again, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

And yes, Yoshi, this means you can put my account on hold. No reason to pay for it when I'm not going to log in. For my fellow Hand of Redemption friends, feel free to email me once in a while, to let me know how things are going. I miss you guys.

Posted by Tammy at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ann Zeise posted one of my emails on homeschool kids safely blogging. Enjoy!

Posted by Tammy at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is not enough room on Tammy's iPod for that song.

What a sad message to see. And I still have about 50 CDs to go through from our collection. These are going to be hard days indeed, trying to figure out which songs I really want to listen to when I work out.

I used my iPod while doing a massive cleaning/re-org this weekend. That was also a fine use for my iPod. Cleaning was actually quite entertaining.

Posted by Tammy at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Is Kakuro the new Sudoku?

Only time will tell....

Posted by Tammy at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Would everyone give me a good finger-cross today? I sent in an article to a major national magazine, that has a 4/600 chance of being selected. I need all the luck I can get.

They will respond within 2 months.

The waiting, as always, will be the hardest part.

Posted by Tammy at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Apple mouse I got...I still thinks it's great. But it has...issues. There is indeed room for improvement.

On another note, I wish I was superstitious. My mom gave our house a dream catcher. I am skeptical; Allison believes it works. Allison has reported no bad dreams since we've had the dream catcher. I cannot say the same. In fact, the past two nights, my dreams have been incredibly intense and lucid with logical storylines. It's not fair - how am I supposed to figure out what's a dream and what's real when my dreams seem just like reality? Or, am I dreaming right now, and my dreams are where reality lies?

Posted by Tammy at 09:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I got the new Apple mouse today.

I
Love
It

'Nuff said.

Posted by Tammy at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've decided to sign up for XM Radio.

It came as a free trial on Enterprise (our new car). Before seeing it in our car, I had no particular interest in trying it, despite rave reviews from friends and family. We were pretty satisfied with regular radio. I didn't see a need.

But that's how they get you, with the first hit. We had a month of XMRadio. And let me say, we won't go back. It's not like we need XM. But, there is so much there for us, it sure is nice to have. I have my presets. Yoshi has his presets. The kids, they have a button on my preset.

I hardly ever have to change channels. With regular radio, I was always changing channels, trying to find music. In the mornings, it was a hopeless case. I was forced to listen to people gabbing on my way to the gym (15-20 min. drive). But now, I have XM - all music, all the time. Or, if I do feel like listening to people talk, there are many diverse channels I can switch to, such as the Nascar channel and the Trucker channel.

The choices are endless. No matter what kind of music I feel like listening to, I can instantly turn to it.

And for double plus points - we were able to listen to the radio for 99.5% of our trip to Colorado, and never had to search for a station. No matter where we are, the stations are the same.

But, if we do become nastalgic for regular radio, it's still available. So far, we haven't had the urge to go back. We had the first hit, now we're hooked.

Posted by Tammy at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Megan was asleep during our trip to the library yesterday, so I picked up a few books. One of them, was True Believer by Nicholas Sparks.

I'm not sure why I chose it, since I wasn't really in the mood for a romance, but for some reason it made its way into my book bag. I thought for sure I'd read a couple pages and put it back, as I have many times with romances checked out of the library. But this one, for some reason, stuck, and I read the whole thing.

Perhaps it was his style of writing that sucked me in. Casual, yet with a bit of flare. And reading a romance from the man's perspective was an interesting twist.

The story was pretty formulaic, and mostly predictable. It read much like a Hollywood movie. But some of the back and forth between the two main characters jumped out of the story, uniquely capturing the fronts people put on when deailng with a new romantic relationship, as well as what goes on inside their heads.

It was a quick read, and cute. I shed a tear or two at the ending. I can see why several of his books were made into movies. And, if I happen across another of his stories, at the library or otherwise, I wouldn't refuse reading it.

Posted by Tammy at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)