Holiday Season, Friends, and Resolutions

Well, like wild fire Christmas blazed on past. It's now boxing day and all of the build up ended in a present opening climax. I was actually pretty surprised that I received a gift this year that I actually wanted, haha. I received a combo printer/scanner/photocopier from my parents and my kids. I was floored when I opened it as this was to be a pretty slim Xmas.

My girls loved their gifts and are still going crazy over what Santa brought them: Ipod and Phone Camera (Santa must be a Techy). They are presently outsided sliding in the snow on the new sleds that I bought them.

All and all this turned out to be a wonderful time, we spend time with friends and family and we had a great time of it.

On behalf of my family to everyone out there in blog land, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years. For those of you non-Xmas folks, Happy Holidays.

I'm hoping the next year brings more smiles than misery though.

Rob

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World of Warcraft: The Game you Love to Hate

Like 9.3 million of us around the world I'm one of those that enjoys playing World of Warcraft as my choice of entertainment. I don't watch tv much anymore, I prefer a more interactive form of entertainment.

I have made many friends in-game, and I have had quite a bit of fun as well. However, recently things have started to get stale for me as far as the game goes. The imbalances with certain classes, the fact that 95% of the player base will never be able to experience most of the Raid content, constant changes to class balance, gameplay, and items, and the lack of any real customer support have turned me off of the game.

If you read the forums it is one big morass of unhappy gamers and it doesn't seem that Blizzard really cares. Many of their fixes are poorly thought out, poorly implemented, and pretty much a waste of everyones time and energy. A good example of this is the afk solution, putting the onus on reporting of the AFK'ers on the players themselves. If that weren't bad enough they allow those with the AFK debuff to maintain and keep the honor that they accrued up until they were reported. It's ridiculous.

I don't know too many players any more that are playing the game for enjoyment, they play because they are either addicted, it's part of their routine, or they spent so much time leveling their characters they don't want to give them up.

Now some people do enjoy the game though, and I think for the most part those folks are newer to the game and still enjoying the initial fun that the game offered to the rest of us. The newness that an MMO of WoW's stature gives to those looking for a fun Onliine experience.

I've decided that I'm most likely not going to continue my subscription, that gives me another 2 months of play time, and if things haven't changed by then I'll go and try something new.

It's funny because this game was allot of fun at one time, the communities were all enjoying it, the pvp aspect was a blast, and it was full of laughs and fun. Now it's work, grinding for rep/honor, pointless quests, ridiculous requirements for mounts/epics, and content that no one but the most well geared can even begin to explore.

Until then I'm going to play and try and find something enjoyable to do while I'm there.

- Rob

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A Battle of Wills - I Surrender

Lately I've noticed that my eldest daughter Jecynda has been much more argumentative with me in respect to bed times, doing homework, play time, and items.

I thought maybe at first that maybe she was angry about something and this was her way to deal with it. So earlier today I decided that the two of us would have a talk. I drove us down to the mall and we did some shopping, we sat at A&W and had a bite to eat, and then we stopped off for an ice cream and sat down. I decided to talk with her then about what was going on and what she thought we could do to solve the problem.

It was then I found out, that I was the problem. She didn't like my rules and thought that she was old enough now for some of them to be changed. Her list of demands were:

1) Go to sleep at 10pm rather than 9pm
2) Do homework when she feels like doing it and not at 7pm
3) She wants her room changed to more reflect herself
4) Be allowed to stay out past 9pm with friends
5) Allowed to go to the mall in the afternoon with her friends

Most of these demands were things that I would be a bit more flexible with had she not been giving me some attitude when she told me about them.

This is where the Battle of the Wills began. I was getting pissy at her attitude and she was getting frustrated with my getting pissy with her attitude.

So, I took a deep breath and made the following compromises with her.

1) Weeknights she can go to bed at 10pm as long as I have no trouble getting her up in the morning.
2) Homework gets done before bedtime, she has the freedom to choose when.
3) I gave her a week to come up with a list of changes for her room, and then we would discuss that.
4) 9pm is the latest she is allowed out at, there is no compromise here.
5) She can go with her friends to the Mall on the condition she is back at school on time, her homework is done, she doesn't do anything stupid like stealing, or anything else peer pressured teens tend to do in those situation.

We agreed on these things, and we'll see how it goes.

Of course after we arrived home and she started to play, I thought to myself: "My little girl is growing up way to fast." And that's when I needed some Daddy sad time, and retired to my room to reflect on how fast the time is flying by.

- Rob

Infamy and Pillows (repost)

I'm reposting this in this blog, because it cracks me up.

It started out innocently enough. I was tired from the days work and decided to take a manly type nap (Emphasis on Manly type Nap...not one of those wussy naps). The girls were playing downstairs so I ventured down to let them know that I was going to take a nap for a bit and to wake me if they needed me. "Yes, Daddy," was the unanimous answer.

It was at that point I should have realized that evil was afoot.

I wandered back up stairs, and lay down in my nice comfy bed. I hadn't slept much the past few nights for some reason and it had caught up to me pretty harshly. So before I knew it I was out and dreaming of nude jello wrestling...err...ignore that.

The first I realized I was under attack was the woomf of a pillow to the side of the head, a few feathers lodged in my nose causing me to sneeze crazily. The second pillow caught my sneezing frame right in the solar plexis, and a third to the side of my face.

The laughter finally brought me around long enough to be aware of the injustice being dealt upon me. Another smack to the forehead and one to the nose and I was up grabbing wildly for a weapon. My hands grasped a lamp....errr...put that back down, the damage would have been severe, and picked up a stuffed giraffe. *note*....it's not mine...it was Marrissa's...errr...she left it in there....yeah...that's it.

I aimed carefully while being battered and let fly my first sortie. It missed. I got creamed again by a flurry of strikes. One of the pillow corners smacked me in the eye and my eyes were watering. I couldn't see at all. Next thing I know the attack is over, the air is full of feathers, and the silence was spooky. I heard the thumping of feet, the slamming of a door, and the locking of the bathroom lock. The quiet giggling of the girls told me they were in hiding and with that the battle was over, and I was defeated.

However......the War had just begun.

Viva la Daddy!!!!

I'm Back, Life Until Now

Wow, again another long period of time passes before I start publishing to my blog again. First I have to say that the past 7 months have been added to the the top three worst years in my life.

I was laid off, I went through two relationships that didn't work out for various reasons, my car had a head gasket go and will cost roughly 1300 to fix, my daughter broke her arm, I had my gall bladder removed, Xmas will be very slim this year, and I lost a few close friends.

I have also drudged up quite a few old memories of the murder of my brother which was very difficult to do but also a bit therapeutic and necessary. I spoke with one of the investigators from that period and we emailed back and forth about the events that led up to and past the time of the murder. The course cases, the cover up by the Canadian Military because it was a French - English racism topic that the gov't didn't want Canada to hear about because of the stresses that referendum talk was having on the public.

So last month I sat down and I decided that life isn't going to run me over without a fight. I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands and to get out of the path I had been following. My first decision was career wise.

Career Decision: Over the past 15 years I have been in IT, I have worked for several companies some large and some small. I have always moved up the ladder when I switched companies and I have always excelled at my positions. Recently I began working with a smaller company out of Mississauga, Ont and things were apparent very early that it wasn't a good fit for me. I won't go into reasons why but let's say that the management system needed some work. After a year of working there it was pretty well known that my feelings about the company were very negative, I didn't want to be there, and when the opportunity came up I took a lay-off. I was very confident that i could find another position very quickly. However, 6 months later and I'm still looking. There are many jobs available but nothing within my area that would be worth pursuing. I didn't want to have to uproot the girls, move, find babysitters, apartment searching, and a host of other things at that time.

So my decision was to join the Air Force as an ATIS tech. It's a spec trade which means advanced promotion and pay as well as being something that will use my IT background. I passed the aptitude test with flying colors and my interview went very well. I'm on to the medical check and if that works out, I'm in. I will go to my 10 week basic training in early Jan or late Dec. I'm in the poorest shape of my life, but I've been told it won't be an issue, they make you get back into shape, lol.

Relationship Decision: I dated two ladies over the last year, one I miss very much but she lives in Bathurst and it was just too far for us to commute to keep things going. The other more recently was just a disaster and I'm actually glad it's over. Mainly for the safety of my girls than anything.

I have decided that I'm going to take a break from dating for awhile until I have my life worked out better, my own apartment/house, and to allow my girls to mature a bit more before they start meeting those I'm dating. My girls have a tendency to become quickly attached to people and it hurts them if things don't work out.

Outlook Decision: My outlook on life over the past year has changed dramatically. I have gone from being a happy, caring, humorous, and loving person to someone who is completely jaded on Life, Religion, Politics, and People. I have distanced myself from many of those I once called friends for varying number of reasons and with some I feel the justification for doing so is still sound. However, for those that I distanced myself from that was due to my hiding behind a mask of self-hate and depression, I have written to and apologized in my own way. I do so because it's the way i can move forward without having guilt about decisions made in haste or for the wrong reasons.

I have vowed to start being positive about life again, giving people the benefit of the doubt, and to get out more. To enjoy life again.

Allot has changed for me over the past years, my life has been one big pile of nonsensical crap and it all stems from the major events in my life never having been dealt with properly by me. I have been an emotional wreck for over 10 years. The death of my brother, the loss of someone I cared for deeply, the break up of a relationship to someone that I deeply loved, the battle for my children, and the list goes on. I needed help dealing with these issues and I never took the time to get it. That changed recently and it is really going a long way to help me cope with my emotions. No wonder I couldn't watch a sad show without balling my eyes out.

So, with these goals and the life plan I have set out I will battle on. Hopefully, the next year will bring some peace, love, and understanding my way. If not, then at least I'll know I went down fighting.

Me.

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