Tomorrow will mark my official 3rd VR anniversary July 1st. But as Rat can attest I was showing up at her house most days for nearly a week beforehand wanting to play hangman, before finally starting my own account.
I'm ever so glad I joined up and for many more reasons than hangman. lol
It's hard not to think of all the changes the last 3 years have wrought both in my own life and on the site. Some good and some bad but we've all survived and hopefully are the better for it.
Remember the great password reset? or the big crash where everyone was freaked out for a while? All the wankers and drama queens that have come and gone? Sure more will take their place but isn't that half the fun? At the end of it all there are a group of decent, interesting people that stay around and keep things moving ever forward.
The most recent changes to the site have revitalized a great many older members which I think is simply awesome and has spurred the newer members to understand more of what made everyone work so hard to raise their status in the first place.
Now I do support those who advise to get a real life and not just spend all your time online but I also know that my time online has saved my sanity during some pretty dark and hard times for me. I could come here and relax, forget my troubles and the demands of my real life. Today my real life is still demanding and I wouldn't trade it for anything because my family and friends are the world for me.
But VR has a very special place in my heart, it's the first social website I ever joined and the first place I met people that I can consider friends online. Seems a good reason to celebrate 3 years of meeting fun and intelligent people here to me.
I didn't really put it together until the new status system went online but I pretty much stopped rating when Mom died, well over a year ago now. Seeing it in black and white made me acknowledge how much I've missed some of it. I used to have a lot of fun talking to new members if only to answer a question they asked in their beginning profile. Yes I'm one of those weird folks that message anyone at the drop of a hat.
So I've started again doing rating starting with the database since I used to have the whole thing done. lol I sure don't now, darn those procurators!
I've been rating about 5 profiles a day other than return rates and I'm trying to build that up a bit at a time. My weekdays are still filled with the kids and I refuse to shortchange them but they love playing video games in the living room where I can watch them and use the laptop too.
It's fun to realize that my base score puts me well above sire so even without bonuses I'm not dropping from it. But like everyone else it's also exciting to strive for that next level too.
I also enjoy the extra benefit of my rate helping others and the mentoring should be really cool. But if I did the math right at my current level I can mentor 50 people! Can you imagine? lol
COMMENTS
never stop dreaming, never give up
50 members getting your help ... and that's help from one of the best ;-)
sweetie ,It has nothing to do with that , now tell the truth , you have just been wrapped up in OBonewits Book and waiting for Micheal.
I think I have around 2000 left to rate in the data base....from there it's all up hill lol!
Took Adam to his OT at the hospital this morning about a 30 mile round trip so not so bad.... the road construction/paving on the interstate didn't help but we were early so it worked out okay. He did his thing good and then we're headed back south to pick up his 12 year old sister from a sleep over with her friends. On the way my sister calls from work and says can I give her an extra hour they just got on the slip-n-slide... Okay I'll kill an hour somewhere, turned out to be a good thing.
I stopped by the phone company to pay my bill and since it was quiet there and I had time to kill I asked the girl to go over the bill with me and see if I could save some money.
15 minutes later, I'm leaving with a new bill 35 dollars a month less than my current one and a bunch of new features kicking in tomorrow. Seems the bill hadn't been updated in about 10 years and things had changed a lot. So with those savings it's like I get my high speed internet for free now. I was paying 97 dollars a month. Yipee I also consolidated my long distance to them with 100 free anytime minutes so the aprox 5 dollars a month I pay now to another company is coming off too. Yea I don't make much long distance calls... heck I hate the telephone and don't talk on it if at all possible.
Ask my friends they'll back me on it :)
So I'm thinking about money trying to save more like everyone else... after 1 more month I have a credit card paid off so $50 a month there in my pocket... next month I pay off my hospital bill that's another $50 bucks a month saved... Add the telephone savings and I'm at 140 a month more in my pocket. I'd like to start putting 1/3 of that at least in savings and have set the credit card payment up to do just that when it's paid off but the other I think I need to apply to some stuff around here. I'd like to have some body work done on my car, some expensive work done at the dentist and hopefully a weekend away with the kids if possible before school starts again.
I confess things are a bit tight around here right now, my sister doesn't make enough on her own to support both kids with all the doctors visits and trips out of town they need and so far the (please god let it be soon) ex-husband isn't kicking in much to help, nothing like child support would be when it's finalized. About 45 more days and that should be done so hopefully that'll add to the kitty. Yep we're family so her problems are my problems and vice versa. It's how I was raised so I'm not fighting it. I love them all and no amount of money means as much as they do to me.
Off to fix hot dogs and mac & cheese (again) lol
COMMENTS
Nice job sis. Feels good to get those darn credit cards paid off huh?
Money is worthless if you don't have love and family in your life.
Even while continuing to work on the updates Cancer has listened to the members about the block lists. Members who haven't logged in in a year are now having their block lists cleared and it's a continuing thing.
My only problem is and I sure won't be voicing it to the man is it took away the only person who had me blocked!
Am I too goodie goodie or have I just been lucky? lol I suspect it's a bit of both but oh what a blow to my ego...
COMMENTS
no you can't make them all happy. have one or two who have me blocked, oh well. not bad for 4 1/2 years. i guess i am too kind. as i know you are.
You must be too "goodie goodie" ... I'm blocked by 14 people.
One block for each profile as of today......and I never talked to either of them...:(
I am blocked by three people, two of which I've never even spoken to. The third is a prem member who didn't like his rate...oh well. That's not bad in three and a quarter years lol
One thing the new level's seem to show is who is spending way too much time here 0-o
There are times when I wish I could go back to the world as it was when I was a small child. It was during the cold war, when good guys and bad guys in the world seemed easier to figure out. The school had tornado and nuclear war drills instead of escaping from gunmen coming into the school, drills! Kids got spanked for doing wrong, hugged when they fell off their bike and got hurt and told to work it out when they got in a fight with the neighbor's kid.
Instead of today where kids cannot be sure what's really wrong since there's no punishment or reward for good behavior just ignored completely, when getting hurt just playing instead of a hug for the kid, a lawyer gets called to file a suit against the evil bike company and instead of teaching kids to deal with conflict in a sensible way, the cops are called and kids end up in court forever freaked about a simple fuss over who fouled who!
I'm sure some would think this was a terrible childhood but to me it was grand. When I was born my family lived up on a hill in a very small tar-paper house with an indoor bathroom as the height of luxury.
We actually spent most of our time at the foot of the hill at my grandparent's house. It was much larger and since it was central to the farm we all lived on more convenient for the work we did.
It was real cool to a us with a big front porch complete with 3 seater swing, large shade trees all around which kept the house cool in the summer and were great places to play.
Big pine trees with branches so long they touched the ground but if you pushed thru them to the base of the tree there was a whole private world there with only our imaginations to stop us.
We got our water from a drinking well and no bottle today can compare to the taste of that water from the old metal dipper.
In the winter we played in the snow then went into the house where the kitchen was always warm from the cast iron wood stove that my Mamaw always kept going and cooked the very best of country food on.
We lived where coal is plentiful and that was what we heated our homes with via a fireplace in every large room. Of course the bathroom didn't get warm so everyone took very fast baths which was good since there was only 1 bathroom per house.
Nothing like today with near as many baths as people in a house and the windows never opened to fresh air not even the spring breezes. We hide inside from the heat and the sun when we used to fight to get outside to it!
Today we need SPF50+ just to feel safe in the sun and most of us don't want to leave the air conditioned air anyway.
While I love the internet and how easy it is to communicate instantly with people around the globe, I miss writing and getting letters and I hate how people seem to be loosing the ability to express themselves with words not spoken verbally. :( Text speak may be faster but not everything is improved with speed.
There's great things about living in the time I do but at times I really would go back to a simpler life.
COMMENTS
Yes, and in the Summer kids would be out all day playing and no-one had to worry abuot them being hurt etc...*sighs*
*nods*
They were the good days for sure....I miss them
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.:)
I only wish my childhood had been so wonderful. :) Thank you for allowing me into your magical memories.
Hugs
Michael
Yesterday was one strange drive for me. I took my nephew to OT in the town just North of us and we got off I75 and started up the two lane road when I saw a cloud of dust kick up just ahead of us. Looking close I saw a trailer loaded down heavy with hay had just pulled over onto the shoulder. Okay that explained the dust but not why it left the road. Then out of the dust cloud I see something moving toward us pretty quick. Finally it cleared enough of the dust for me to make it out... a large wheel from the trailer was rolling about 20mph on it's own down the highway. Luckily it was still going straight, unluckily there was no where for the other vehicles to go when a little bit farther down I saw the other real trailer wheel spin to a stop in the center of the lane of traffic.
I'm glad no one was hurt but I have to ask myself who was supposed to put the nuts on that trailer when they changed the tires? lol
Congratulations LadyKrystalynDarkstar VR's newest Dominar. I look forward to working with you and sharing good times in the forum and chat box! :)
COMMENTS
Good news is always shared :-)
Thank you for your kindness! I look FORWARD too!!
I see a great many people with rating criteria on their profiles which is great if you can honestly stick to it. I confess my rating system is a lot more subjective. It's subject to just how bitchy a mood I"m in when I rate, which is why I tend to just do return rates these days. Makes for a lot less having to go back and re-do the bad ratings I left because I wasn't feeling nice and cheerful *aka bitchy*
COMMENTS
You! Bitchy? .. never..!
OHHH trust me.. she can be. lol
and we stay far out of her way when she is....:)
Oh I'm with Bloodlife here lol
I've never seen it yet...I did say yet!
3:30 in the morning and I have a full blown case of insomnia. lol I've read a book, wrote some poetry, played online, read a dozen journals and went to the bathroom and got a drink. oh boy and I'm still not feeling sleepy. I keep trying to think of something else to make me sleepy but instead just keep remembering the old trick my nursing teacher taught us about dropping the hand of a sleeping person into a bowl of warm water and moving back to watch the race. lol
That isn't going to help me sleep, that's for sure!
Lots of things I wanted to do tomorrow instead I'll be dragging around like a zombie I guess. Be afraid world be very afraid if I get out driving tomorrow! lol jk
COMMENTS
One thing that really does work, ask a loved one to smack you upside the head with a housebrick.....hey desperate measures etc lol
"dropping the hand of a sleeping person into a bowl of warm water'' ..... I thought that just made the person pee in their sleep!! lol
drinking coffee makes me sleepy.
Chat to me I'll bore the pants off you!! You'll sleep no problem!
There's a lot of wonderful new changes happening here on the Rave and yet my favorite is still the Journal commenting. I cannot tell you at the times I've got a smile or a laugh from things left on the dreary day to day crap I put on my journal! From people of all types on VR I enjoy their comments and views on the things I know the best. lol It's also so wonderful at time to get a completely fresh outlook on a problem that's bugging me.
I also love reading other's journals and leaving comments. It's such an impersonal way of being personally friendly with someone. lol Can that be real?
I've actually made a few friends doing this very thing though and I enjoy even the comments left by strangers to me, it's a great way to have input that doesn't involve committment! lol
COMMENTS
Yep..journals are my favourite too.
Yep, it's a great source of entertainment heh and I too have made friends this way :)
I love journal commenting, it's great!
Me Too!
Yes that can be real.
I just got to talk to Rat's Mommy on the phone and wish her a Happy 80th birthday! She's a real sweet lady and was kind enough to chat with me a minute and laugh with me too. I'm so envious of Rat at times and Birdy too, they still get to share with their Mom's. But they're great friends and more than willing to share with me too. *hugs my lovely friends*
Poor Rat sounds rough though with a sore throat :( just as well she made a lemon cake since it'd have been awful to make a chocolate and then not get to enjoy it from being ill.. See Rat there is good in everything :)
COMMENTS
We need to set a date with Mom for those cooking lessons.....:)
Oh yes I really want to learn how to make the old fashioned apple stack cake!
*blows nose* Only you would think of it that way. :)
I would like nothing more than to sit in my comfy chair and play on VR all day long. Unfortunately my nephew is yelling for breakfast (very unusual) and he needs his morning meds, heck so do I for that matter (eye's the insulin pen with a snarl).
Then I have no choice but to hit the road and pay bills today, gas, water and electric. I can hear thunder rolling in the distance so the storms predicted for today will most likely be what I get to run around in too. lol Oh well I'm not sugar and I won't melt. Surprise surprise I'm not actually kin to the wicked witch after all :)
COMMENTS
Well you might not be kin about the water...but the other things...
:)
Just get home safe hun :-)
Be safe with your travels today hon....
Don't forget your broom me dear...all us witches need backups! :)
I'm sure you wont have a problem dodging the rain spots. Take care : )
Happy Birthday VR!
Thursday night instead of being the end of the week was a highlight in a week of big fun for me. Got to meet FairieMoon and her friend from House Eternal over at Rat's. I've only talked to her a few times in the house because she was busy with school but she's now a bona fide graduated Nurse! lol Sorry FM, couldn't resist that one! We had dinner out and then spent a few hours relaxing on Rat's back porch listening to a little storm blow by while we talked and of course solved all the world's problems. If only the politicians would listen, right ladies?
Then spent the rest of the weekend working in and around my house, lots of overdue cleanup outside and then we moved furnature and cleaned out the spare bedroom/storage room to get it ready to be painted. A job that's been put off way too long.
Good thing was I turned up my old Playstation 2 and got out my copy of the world's greatest game Ogre Battle - Quest of the Black Queen and got to play it a bit during breaks. lol
The kids wanted to play it but I took my disc and ran with it yelling at their mom to explain it to them. lol Even on Ebay to get this game used is over 50bucks and the players guide is 50bucks. It's an awesome game but darned hard to replace so I guard it good.
There's still a lot of work to be done to make this place more livable for the 4 of us but we're finally mostly well so things should get moving faster now.
Anyway I did manage to get some more work done on the VR timeline history in my house. It's coded and ready just needs transferred from the work page into the history page. Hopefully that'll be this week. When the coven history is complied I'm going to check it against the dates I've got and make any corrections I can find needed and add in what might be needed too. Once I get all the VR Events caught up I need to work on the world history some more and then get the movies caught up for the last year too. Lots and lots to keep a girl busy but it's fun work so that's okay.
With summer here a bit less running for me with not having to go to the school twice a day, will probably have to take Adam to occupational therapy an extra day or two but that's still less than I've been running. But first off starting tomorrow I can sleep in past 7AM Yipee!!!! That might just be to 8 but I'll work on getting little man to sleep later this summer. Probably make it work just in time for school to start back in August. lol
COMMENTS
-
meeper
21:04 Jun 30 2009
Congratulations on three years, Nightgame. I am sure glad to have crossed paths with you as I am sure many many other VR members are as well. Your warmth and humor shines through and makes and always makes me smile.
Yes this is place called Vampire Rave is a wonderful refuge from life and allows us a virtual carefree playground. Here's to another three years :)
Sinora
12:03 Jul 01 2009
*Blinks*.....did you write the word wankers ???? lmao...I've never seen an American use that word, well happy aniversary.
Elemental
14:38 Jul 01 2009
And she uses wankers often too!!
Happy VR Birthday NG. :)
Nightgame
17:06 Jul 01 2009
What can I say I read a lot of English writers plus I just love how that word fits some folks so well! lol
Theban
18:50 Jul 01 2009
Hey this English Wanker is still here!
Wow three years...I remember when you first came onto the Rave....makes me feel old!
LadyChordewa
05:07 Jul 03 2009
Happy Anniversary hon!!!
Vampirewitch39
04:43 Jul 04 2009
ahhh... the week of you wining my favors. lol I am so glad you joined VR, and sharing yourself with others here. :)