34 playing War, cape cod, fish, depression

03-28-04

Mayatime: 12.19.12.2.15 13 Men 18 Cumhu

It’s been a long time since I wrote. I’ve been letting the days blend together. I think I mentioned that my dad’s new passion is playing cards. He constantly wants to know when I’m coming over to play cards with him. I picked up a pair of decks (a red and a blue) and we don’t play Solitaire anymore (“patience” some people call it)—we play War. War is easy; I remember my grandpa teaching me to play it when I was a child and couldn’t even understand that some cards were higher than others (I don’t think I could even read yet!). We play with the double deck, me, dad & mom, or sometimes my husband comes over too. My dad’s pretty good at figuring out who won each hand. We had an amazing war on Friday night: a 4 way ace war. I forgot who won that hand, I think my mother did.

My mom also remembered an old card game we used to play, called Waterworks. I had tried to get it at a toy store, but they said don’t make it anymore. (Not true: you can follow the link to Amazon, but it seems like a cheesier version; I bought the old version from the 1970's with real metal wrenches and a fun plastic bathtub card tray.) I found a couple of incomplete sets on Ebay so I picked them up for $3 and $4 each. It was as fun as mom & I remembered, but my father hated it. He refuses to play—he only wants to play War or Solitaire. My grandmother likes it too, so we play with her.

My parents are taking my husband and me on vacation with them this summer, just up to Plymouth, Massachusetts (pilgrim town) where they like to go, where they stay at a lovely hotel. I used to like to go too, and then I went to Grand Cayman. Sorry, pilgrims, pirates win! Hopefully there will be nice weather this year; last year it rained and my parents came right home, which was good because their damn cat was pissing on my loveseat. He also pooped there. My cats have been known to pee in inappropriate places, but only ONCE in 11 years have they pooped outside the box—and the cat had been accidentally locked in the bedroom all day, it wasn’t his fault. Jasper had no excuse except that he’s an evil little beast. Actually he’s not evil, he’s rather cute, but he doesn’t like me sometimes, and it’s very odd that once in a while he runs to me purring and talking, and the next time he flees for his life when he sees me. Cat insanity.

Since I’ve written last, I acquired some fish. I got a nice turquoise betta, and a pleco suckerfish. The pleco only lived for a couple of days, which everyone seems to think is funny because the fish warranty from that pet store is only 24 hours. The betta seemed lonely to me, so a week or so later I picked up a pair of baby albino cory catfish. They are adorable, they race all around the tank, and the betta seems to like them: when they are resting he floats right above them. It’s just a little tank, about 2 gallons, perfect to have on the bookshelf in the living room. I got a micro-heater for it (I think the pleco died from the water being too cold—I also never saw him eat) and also a light (not sure what happened to the light which came with the tank—the light, the pump, the tubing, the net—all that wasn’t with the tank when I found it again)—I got an adjustable goose-neck lamp which I can always use when I don’t have fish anymore. I had a light-box (for crystals) upside down on the cover, but it felt unsafe. This way the light doesn’t touch the tank at all. It does raise the temperature a little, so it’s only on when we’re home because I don’t want to cook the fish! I leave the blinds open so they get sunlight.

I’ve been really depressed, between this whole dad-thing, and some health problems of my own, and my low-paying job—one of the reasons I hadn’t written in a while. I haven’t felt like writing ANYTHING, haven’t even gone to the NaNoWriMo meetings every month.

I am in therapy—which always seems so self-indulgent to me, and I’m hoping that talking and crying every week to a sympathetic ear is what I need. The insurance doesn’t pay so I have to work off my bill in the office there—more time taken away from “me” –like cleaning my house, going to this dead-end job, and playing video games.

I’ve mastered Zuma, [requires IE, sorry] which is Aztec-themed, and my mother introduced me to Jewel Quest, which is Mayan-themed, and I’m battling my way past cursed masks to get the jewels for the various gods of each level—more frustrating than Zuma, and I’ll probably never master it completely. And yes, I have the paid download versions of them, but the links are to the free online versions. If you download the paid version of Jewel Quest, I have the cheat codes if you’re interested.