02-15-05
mayatime 12.19.11.18.14 11 Ix 17 Pax
I haven’t written about my dad for a while. Not much has changed. I’ve been trying to see my dad a few times a week when I can. He likes to play Solitaire. Originally we were playing on the computer, but he had a hard time seeing some of the moves. Like if there was a red ten by itself, and two columns over there was a black nine with a red eight and a black seven, he couldn’t see the black nine well enough to recognize the move.
Solitaire, which most know as a solitary game (hence the name) is a family affair with me and my parents (and once, after a lovely turkey dinner, my husband).And we still can’t beat the damn computer. My father, even pre-Alzheimer’s, could not understand how to use the mouse.
“Double click it, dad.”
“Okay.”
Click. Long pause. Click.
“No, quick. Click-click.”
Click. Click.
“No, clickclick really fast!” Click. Click.
Even with the setting turned to most sensitive to long delays between clicks, he could not click fast enough.
I think he’s forgotten the mouse exists. He did not know I was moving the cards. He’d say “hurry up before he takes it away” (he=the guy inside the computer).If I clicked on a wrong card, the guy (a recorded voice, you understand) said funny things like “you can’t click there” “not the foundation cards” “you can’t do anything with the foundation cards” and best of all, “don’t you know the rules?”
Because I am a smart-ass, I liked to click on the wrong cards to make the computer guy “angry.” My father thought a real person was scolding me and wants to know where he lives so he can go beat the guy up.
I found a pack of real cards (wow what a rarity) and we started playing on the kitchen table. My mom doesn’t allow me to cheat. I think I should cheat so my dad can win once in a while. He gets angry when we lose all the time.He also gets angry when he can’t see the move. Basically I flip the cards until I see a move, and then I say “there’s two moves” or however many I see. He ALWAYS sees the aces. Sometimes no matter what, he doesn’t see the move. When we show him, he gets really angry, swearing at himself and beating himself in the head. It’s very upsetting. I try to tell him the game is supposed to be FUN, not something to beat yourself up over. Whenever I leave there after playing Solitaire with him I cry all the way home.
Sometimes I have to go home the long way.My mom introduced me to an addicting game on AOL and I found out it’s accessible through their web site. I have an AOL account; I don’t know if you have to have one to get to it.It’s called Jewel Quest. Basically it’s a lot like Bejeweled 2, which I play on MSN, but it’s got more of a plot. And it’s got Aztec imagery. I will play any game with Aztec imagery!(I LOVE LOVE LOVE Zuma).
For personal news, I was recently accepted as an initiate into the Order of the Feathered Serpent. It’s a 3-year program of shamanism, healing & self-improvement. My first “lesson” came yesterday-a fat book full of rituals to learn. Yippee!
My classes in Web Design started last night. I’m taking 3 this semester-HTML, Web Design & Photoshop. It’s really a one semester certification, but I didn’t want to take so many classes back-to-back like that, and one’s on Saturday interfering with my workshops.This one, the HTML one, is pretty easy so far. But I also have to take some classes in Flash animation and VB programming.Luckily my husband’s already been through the VB classes for his degree so he can help me and he has the books already too.
