I’m really not that into video games – I told you about how Mister wants to get me playing his silly little game with him and how I don’t want to because I’m convinced I won’t be that good at it.  Now the silly little game has an add-on – Bejeweled.  I was kinda ok with playing Tetris, because it’s the only video game that I know of where I appreciate the kind of skill involved in playing, so Mister told me to go online and check out Bejeweled.  Usually I get to around level 6 or 7 before I get stuck with no moves, but I did manage to make it to level 14 and over 90,000 points once.  I’ve been playing it quite a bit lately, and it didn’t take long before the idea for this post popped into my head.  Here are 7 life lessons you can learn from playing Bejeweled:

1. Keep your eyes on the top.  In the game, if you focus your attention on the top of the board, you’ll usually have moves left at the bottom.  If you focus too much on the bottom, you’ll completely rearrange the top of the board.  Keep your eyes on the top – aim high, and you’ll have more success in life.
2. Don’t get distracted by shiny stuff.  In the game, when you get 4 in a row you get a “power cube.”  It’s tempting to make every move possible to use it for another 3 (or more) in a row for extra points, but don’t be hasty about it.  If you are distracted with a single goal in mind, you’ll lose sight of the big picture.
3. Keep a level head.  In the game, I’ve found that when I have the choice between a vertical or horizontal row, I’ll move for the horizontal row.  Keep a level head and you’ll have a lot more opportunities come your way.
4. Don’t make hasty decisions.  In the game, I’ve found that I can get carried away at times and make a lot of hasty decisions.  This almost always backfires on me – as the jewels are falling into place, I see a better move that I could have take.  Take the time to think about things and examine your options before you make a decision.
5. A little strategy goes a long way.  In the game, you need too try and see what will happen with each possible move, so that you can set yourself up for more moves.  A good life strategy has an eye on the outcome.
6. The more advanced you become, the longer it takes to reach your goals.  In the game, the higher your level, the longer it takes to reach the next level.  This is one of those ironic things about life – it’s easy to move on and move up earlier in life, but the more experience you get, the bigger the challenge.  That’s not to say you shouldn’t try, though.  I mean, who wants to stay at level 1 forever?
7. Don’t over think things.  In the game, I’ve found that if I think too hard, I can’t see the possibilities that exist.  Sometimes you just have to have fun!

This morning on my drive to work, I saw a Chevrolet SSR.  I’d seen this particular vehicle a few times before, and I always wondered: what the heck is it trying to be?  Is it a pickup truck?  Because if it is, it’s not much taller than a car.  Is it a car? Because if it is, it has a bed that makes it look like a pickup.  And what’s with the fenders?  Is it trying to evoke an earlier era with its rounded, protruding fenders?  Because if it is, it’s not working.  I really don’t know what to classify this vehicle as, though apparently Chevy classifies it as a pickup truck.  It probably rides like an overgrown sportscar.  One thing’s definite about this vehicle: you won’t have any trouble spotting it in a crowded parking lot!

I’ve been thinking of writing a post about this for some time, but there’s no conclusion to the story, no punchline, nothing like that.  It’s just a bizarre episode in this life of mine.  But, since I’m doing NaBloPoMo, and I was inspired by Zhu’s post today, I’m just going to give you what I have.

Unlike Zhu, who is currently on the receiving end of an endless barrage of phone calls from a number that has been determined to be spam, I have someone out there who is mistakenly giving out my phone number as their own.  I think that their’s is just one number off or something – I have two numbers that double up in my phone number, and I find that quite often people will dial a wrong number because of it (for example, dialing 911 when they mean to be dialing 991).  But lately, I’ve been receiving an awful lot of calls from people who are looking for “Greer.”  I pick them up because they’re local numbers, but I’ve been learning to just let it all go to voice mail.  Many times, I doubt the person on the other end of the line speaks English, though there have been some callers who speak English perfectly fine.  I keep telling people that they have the wrong number, and some of them dial my number again.  The calls were frequent for awhile, up to 3 a day, but they’ve subsided quite a bit now.  Maybe it’s because of how I handled the last call.  “Look, I don’t know who Greer is, but they’ve been giving out the wrong phone number.  When you get in touch with Greer, tell him (or her) to learn their phone number and cut the shit.  I’m tired of all these wrong number calls!”  It’s been about a week or so without any calls for Greer.

As all this was happening, I got about 3 or 4 calls from people who claim that I put my info out there saying that I was looking for a room to rent.  The first caller I actually picked up the phone for (again, local calls) and it took some doing to convince him that I placed no such ad and was not looking to move anywhere, but the rest were voice mails that I simply deleted.  No one ever left a voice mail when they were looking for Greer, which saved me from wasting my time checking voice mail.

These sorts of situations can easily be prevented if people would just learn their own phone number and proofread what phone number they put down in ads and for other purposes.  Of course, I’m not sure what could help Zhu right now.  Perhaps a countrywide effort to spam the number that’s been calling her?

Unless there’s a lot we want to get done or we actually go out of town, weekends for Mister and myself tend to be a bit lazy.  Yesterday we sat around the home office doing whatever it is we do on our computers until we decided to go out and eat dinner.  After that we came home and watched a movie.  Absolutely nothing else got accomplished.  Today was more of the same, except I tackled a bit of housework as well.  I have a tendency to keep up with it until later in the week, when I start getting lazy and leave it all until Sunday.  So I cleaned up the kitchen, did the dishes, and cleaned off the coffee table, which was covered in wax from the candles we burned while we were watching a movie the other night.

Mister and I have started talking about Thanksgiving.  While I like spending time with my family during the holidays, I really, really don’t like to travel at that time, especially considering that growing up, we traveled a half mile to Gram’s house.  Not far at all.  Mister and I started talking about having dinner here at home and maybe inviting a couple of friends over.  We don’t have the table space or seating for more than that, so a small holiday it is.  This will be the first time ever that I cook such a big dinner.  There will be lots to do, even for such a small crowd.  Maybe I should pick up a copy of one of those magazines that women always get to help them plan the holidays.  I’m probably already behind schedule!

Now that I’ve done my blog post for the day, I think I might tackle a bit of filing.  I hate filing, but it’s got to get done.  And hopefully tomorrow I’ll have a much more inspiring post.

I signed up for NaBloPoMo.  My blogging has been lacking lately, averaging one post for every 7-10 days, so I think this is just the thing to kick-start me into blogging more regularly. Going through my reader this morning, I see that a lot of people have signed up for it, so reading everyone else’s daily posts should help to keep me motivated.

In other news, I went and voted yesterday. One of the early voting sites is the mall. The number of cars in the parking lot told me it would be crowded, but I wasn’t expecting what I saw inside. The line was long, but one of the volunteers told me it was only a 20 minute wait. Considering how long the line was, it moved very quickly. I was able to cast my vote and hightail it out of there.

The part I wasn’t expecting was the people who weren’t there to vote. Things one tends not to pay attention to when one does not have or intend to have children. The rest of the mall was completely mobbed with children in costumes and their parents. Yup, it was trick or treating time at the mall. It did occur to me that, especially in a town like Vegas, the mall would be a much safer place to bring the kids. Personally, I’m not a fan of handing out candy on Halloween. First of all, it’s a hypocritical holiday. All year long kids are taught to not take candy from strangers. Then on one night a year, we dress them up and tell them to knock on as many doors as possible to get candy. I grew up in a place where we knew most of our neighbors, so there weren’t many strangers where we went begging for candy. Second, I don’t like seeing infants dressed up (well, actually I do – they’re adorable!) and giving candy to their parents, who will eat it because the child is not yet on solid food. On the other end of the age spectrum, I also don’t like giving candy to teenagers who don’t even bother to put on a costume. So at the mall were all the kids that I don’t mind giving candy to – the 3-13 year old age group that enjoy the holiday for all the fun it can produce for them. The ones that enjoy putting thought into their costume and are so excited that they want to wear it every day. It was fun watching them go by, and nice knowing that they weren’t going to get any poisoned candy or razorblades in apples from any of the stores at the mall.

I’ve finally been reading all the Harry Potter books. I didn’t at first because I thought they were more for children (since they are sold in the children’s section at the bookstore), then as they gained popularity I didn’t because I didn’t want to wait in line for hours for the latest release. I didn’t even watch the movies until I met Mister. With him, I’ve watched all 5 movies, and he encouraged me to read the books, which I have to admit are great. I’ve just started book 6, which is the first book I’ve read before seeing the movie. I will admit that I cheated and read the plot summaries, but it doesn’t take anything away from me because I know that there’s so much more to that in the books. Last night we stayed in and watched Order of the Phoenix since I just finished that book, and saw how much of the book that wasn’t in the movie, and how much the movie oversimplified for the sake of time. Despite that, I’m looking forward to the rest of the movies.

So there you have it – my first of 30 daily posts (perhaps more). If any of my readers are participating, let me know so I can follow your progress as well!