Living In Lala Land
My Personal Perspective On My Online Game Playing
agree or disagree
Well that’s the expression my husband uses, ha your off in Lala land again.
I play Everquest 2,  I am 52 years old and love my online game, I was introduced to it over 12 months ago by a friend of ours, my husband still berates him.
This article is about my gaming, I just want to try to put in words the valuable therapy it gives me. Allot of people will scoff at that last statement, including  non playing spouses, I can hear all the comments in my head right now, your wasting your life, its only a stupid game, cant you find something more constructive to do, get a hobby.
News flash this is one of my hobbies  yep sitting on my backside with friends I have made from all over the world, from all different professions and age groups,  pretending we are guardians, wizards, my alt or toon as we call them is Ozzle she is a level 70 warden a healer on the befallen server,  we form guilds, fight the baddies, do quests, help each other in our lala land.  It’s my little bit of escapism, I find it far more rewarding than watching the idiot box every night. Yes I will admit you can very easily lose track of time, that it can be addictive, we fondly call it evercrack, but we are responsible adults and in our online camaraderie, we share snippets of our real life, discuss our work, our kids, health issues, swap recipes, blow off steam, laugh with and at each other, all with no pressure, some of my friends are half my age they are aware of the age gap but it is not a barrier, mind you I am the brunt of allot of old jokes e.g. ozz clean your glasses,  we had better wait for ozz  she’s a bit older than us but it is all in good fun.
I had a serious computer problem that was driving me mad, I couldn’t get a straight forward answer from  the powers that be  so where did I turn,  yes you guessed it  to my friends in EQ2, very talented people real life computer programmers, web masters, PC technicians, who were only to willing to help me solve my dilemma.
I find my gaming in EQ2 no different to Myspace, IRC, MSN, ICQ Second Life or any other chat program where you make friends, except we are playing a game together. I am not a mindless numb nut, playing this game takes skill, solving the puzzles, working on tactics involved helps me keep my brain active in a fun way. I still manage to do all  my real life task’s,  looking after and running the house, working at the business,  taking care of a very large garden when weather permits.
 Now before I receive a string of mail from irate people saying the above is irresponsible,  I want to reiterate that these are my personal adult views,  if you have kids doing the same then its up to you as a responsible parent to monitor them and the time they spend online,  you do have to be wary of this as the net has taken over from the television and sesame street as the baby sitter, seemingly harmless only the net is allot more addictive and dangerous to young impressionable minds than some people want or wish to realize but that is another story, another article.
I am posting this much to alot of peoples, who really dislike EQ2 probably as much as I dislike watching football, car racing, world’s worst sporting accidents, just to name a few smiling sweetly .
Shazz
http://www.igotalk.com/html/articles.html
 

Diary Of A Menopausal Madwoman

I thought I would be lucky.
After having had a hysterectomy at the age of 29, for cervical cancer the thought never entered my head that I would ever suffer from Menopause.
Big Mistake, for over 12 months now I have been suffering a personal living hell, constantly hoping the end is insight.
Hot flashes, burning red face, its minus 31 degrees Celsius outside and I can't get cool, night sweats waking up bathed in a pool of perspiration hair wet and sticking to my face, tossing the covers back trying to get some relief, another night of broken sleep.
Changing from a happy go lucky, loving person to a snapping, snarling, moody, don’t even glance at me or I will bite your head off  A grade harridan
Not having control over my mood swings is hell in it's self, just doing normal everyday things and tears start streaming down my face which then leads to a full blown howling session.
An agonizing pain in started my left shoulder for no reason greatly limiting the use of my left arm.
I thought I had best visit my local doctor and see what in the blazes was going on.
Sitting in her office I started to describe my symptoms, next minute again a wave of uncontrollable tears, she was very sympathetic to my plight and explained to me something I had never heard of I was suffering a menopausal breakdown, and the pain in my shoulder was known as frozen shoulder, something that can just hit women out of the blue, Oh joy at least I had an answer.
Now I was faced with the prospect of x-rays, visiting the specialist for a cortisone injection and allot of physio for the shoulder.
Not to mention being unable to return to my seasonal work.
I sat and waited for over 8 weeks for the specialist appointment to finally arrive , got the shot in the shoulder, a week of even worse  pain, a cat scan ordered for my neck, pain there as well, all the time still snapping and snarling at everyone, family wondering, waiting for the ransom note to get the old Shazz back and get rid of this screaming shrew that has replaced her.
Jumping forward in this nightmare I have had a Cat scan, an M.I.R, been to see a neurosurgeon, all with little success my neck is causing me grief now, I am waiting to return to see the bone specialist again for further tests.
I have written this for those women out there who are going through menopause, my neighbour, my sisters, my sister in law, we do allot of suffering in silence because it is a very personal problem, not easily explained to someone not experiencing this.
Yes there are treatments for our symptoms, but its the looking in the mirror, trying to face the fact geese I have put on 5, 10, 15 pounds and been living like a rabbit on lettuce leaves, shopping in a t shirt when the weathers freezing out there, emotions welling up in side, wondering when is this all going to cease and what awaits us on the other side of menopause.
This is purely my personal account, I am not offering advice just a bit of insight into the woman behind the hormonal hell, In the hope that you may understand her a little better.
 

Shazz

http://www.igotalk.com/html/health.html