Friday Cassidy received her classes Superstar Award. She’s been DYING to get this award all year and about two months ago her teacher told her that if she turned in ALL of her homework and improved in math that she would get it. On Monday of last week I asked if she had gotten it and she said that another student had gotten it instead. I was heartbroken for her because her face fell and she was almost in tears when she told me. And a little pissed off at the same time since she HAD turned in all her homework and HAD improved in math so I told her that I’d go in Wednesday to talk to the teacher to see what was up. Before I could even turn my car off after school on Wednesday she came running up screaming I GOT SUPERSTAR I GOT SUPERSTAR I GOT SUPERSTAR. When she got in the car I gave her a big hug and told her how proud I was of her and she read me the letter telling me what time to be there Friday because the parents get to help present the award. She started crying when she read it to me. This award meant THAT MUCH to her.

So my Friday started a off nice and a little early because I left work early to make sure I was there for the award ceremony. They even gave her one of those horrid “My Child is a SUPERSTAR” bumper stickers. We taped it to the inside of the back window of my car. As proud of her as I am, I’m NOT about to stick a bumper sticker on My Precious. heh

(Aside - I owe a GIGANTIC ENORMOUS HUGE thank you to Ben for being so understanding about me ditching out on his track day Friday @ Buttonwillow so last second. I really wanted to be there and I PROMISE that I’ll make it up to you. *devilish grin*)

Saturday we went to Chris’s Graduation Fest. All the NorCalBMW crew was there so, of course, it was a fantastic time. I love getting to hang out with my NorCal family. And I REALLY love Jello Shots. A lot. The kids had a blast, too.

Sunday I was supposed to go out with the NorCal crew to celebrate Jason’s 21st birthday. But I got a raging sinus headache that started late Saturday evening and lasted pretty much till early Monday morning. So much so that I spent most of Sunday in a Benadryl induced coma. Ben planned a really fun evening for him though. Dinner at Gordon Biersch Brewery, Tracy Morgan at The San Jose Improv, then pool at 1st Street Billiards. He seemed to have a really good time. Well, when they stumbled in the door at midnight they were STILL having a really good time. I really wish that I could have gone but I felt SO BAD. I’m sure that I’ll have plenty more chances to out drink him though so…

Monday I felt SO much better and after having been stuck inside the entire day before I decided to get out in the fresh air a bit so Cassidy and I spent most of the day digging out grape vines and planting and transplanting and making the yards pretty. We planted the Bougainvillea and also got some fun stuff to plant. Tomato’s, green peppers, green beans and strawberries. She’s SO INTO planting and growing right now. Every day after homework we walk around the house and check on all our plants to see how they are doing. We might have to transplant my Mother’s Day gerber daisy. I think it’s getting too much water and not enough sun where it is. I’ll probably stick it in a pot and put in on the back patio.

SO! That was my weekend. Oh yeah, we topped it off last night by going to my new obsession, Aqui. The food there is SO good. Fresh and healthy (Ben had free range turkey meatloaf casserole which had big chunks of vegetarian tamale mixed into a yummy tomato sauce) and JUST SO GOOD.

Women gain prominence in video game world

Beyond these stereotypical male fantasies, women were all but absent from the billion-dollar gaming industry. But that’s changing, thanks to a core female gamers who are increasing women’s visibility and influence.

I really hate articles like this for a couple of reasons.

One being the same reason I saw Danika Patrick get pissy with an interviewer the other day when he asked her how it felt to be a girl in a male dominated sport. Her answer was somewhere along the lines of, “I’m a female. I drive the car. They are men. They drive the cars. If that’s the extent of the questions you are going to be asking, we are wasting our time.” I had to laugh a little. (But at the same time, I think it’s a little hypocritical of her to be doing a feminine deodorant commercial where they play up the fact that she’s beating little boys at a racing game. If you are going to capitalize on the stereotype, don’t then get pissed when a reporter asks you about it.)

Anyway, so they are girls and they play *gasp* video games. Big deal. They just want to be “accepted like the boys” yet they will tout the fact that they are GIRL gamers every chance they get. Or simply to get SOME publicity. Don’t ASK to be equal with the boys, then play up the fact that you are girls.

The other reason it upsets me is because I can name off a slew of female gamers that have been doing so for at least the last 10 years… when these girls were still in middle school. But you know, they are totally setting the bar. They are guiding the way for little girls all across America… Whatever.

And P.S. girls, Microsoft didn’t pick you to demo games because you are girl gamers and leading the way for more girl gamers, they picked you to get more of the predominant 9 - 35 year old MALE demographic to spend more time in the booth. Bill Gates isn’t the richest bastard on Earth because he’s stupid. He knows how to cater to an audience. He’s a goddamn marketing genius and you were just another pawn to increase sales.

With Love,
Antigone

Because people have asked how the whole “girlfriend” thing happened. Here it is in chat logs.

I messaged Ben as I was walking in the house from the mailbox. I didn’t know if I should laugh or THROW UP.

[15:10] Anna (tmobile): Oh… My… God.
[15:11] Anna (tmobile): One of the little BOYS(!!!!) that cassidy was playing with Monday…
[15:11] Anna (tmobile): Left a LOVE NOTE in the mailbox for her.
[15:11] Anna (tmobile): He called her his GIRLFRIEND!!
[15:12] Anna (tmobile): And drew a picture of her wearing the outfit she was wearing !!!
[15:12] Anna (tmobile): I’m locking her in her room.
[15:12] Anna (tmobile): She is never allowed outside again.
[15:13] Anna (tmobile): Also… Googling “chastity belt”

He wrote her a little letter telling her that he thinks she is “nice and fun and cute too”. And that she is his 18TH GIRLFRIEND!! Then he drew a picture on the back of her in what she was wearing the day they first played together. Complete with butterfly’s and flowers. On the envelope he painted a heart with wings. I have to assume is mom helped with this because it was really well done. I’d POST PICTURES if she’d let me anywhere near the damn thing. But after last night she won’t even let me TOUCH it. heh

Last night when I asked her if I could show the note to Ben…

Her: MOooOOOOM!!
Me: What?!
Her: I don’t want to show it to Ben.
Me: Why?
Her: Because he’ll make fun of me and be like “You LIKE him” and I don’t LIKE him like that. Just as a friend.
Me: He won’t make fun of you!
Her: Yes he will!!
Me: Okay, fine.

*quiet for a second*

Me: Can I take a picture of it and post it on the internet?
Her: NO! MOM!
Me: Nobody READS the INTERNET, Cassidy!!
Her: *glare*
Me: FINE! OKAY! No internet.

*quiet for a second*

Me: So, are you going to tell him that you don’t like him ‘like that’?
Her: I don’t know.
Me: That will probably hurt his feelings… So just tell him that your mom said you aren’t allowed to have a boyfriend till you are 25.
Her: *rolls eyes* Okay.

Walking into Tace Bell later talking about school.

Me: So, does Nathan go to your school?
Her: Do we HAVE to talk about this right now?!?!
Me: Well, I think that when a BOY(!!) is calling you his GIRLFRIEND that we need to talk about it Cassidy, yes!
Her: He’s NOT my boyfriend!! I’m NOT his girlfriend!! No dating till 25, I GET IT MOM!!
Me: OooooKAY!!

I’m pretty sure it’s in her backpack but we had a really busy night last night. We came home from work/school, got homework done, packed a bag, got Ben off to Bakersfield for his track day today, grabbed some quick food then headed to the X-Men preview. (It sucked :() Then I took her to my moms so she could take her to school today because Ben was out of town. SO! I didn’t get a chance to look for it. But you can bet that once I do, there will be pictures. There’s just no way I can’t save this to totally embarrass her when she’s 16!!

Still don’t didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. So I’ve just been dealing with it by having a small nervous breakdown. heh

Why is it that I find MySpace so annoying and I never post there? I’ll give you the short list:

• StupidSlowâ„¢ load times.
• Page after page of aliased flashing gifs that cause me to have seizures.
• BRIGHT YELLOW text on a LIME GREEN background that cause my eyes to bleed in pain and force me to CTRL + A just to read.
• Band Spam. If I like your music I STILL won’t add you. Just. Stop.
• StupidMenâ„¢. No, I won’t add you. No I won’t message you back. No, I won’t tell you my shoe size (WTF?!). I only add people I know in real life or that I’ve met through various message boards/blogs and like. And I don’t like many people so there’s a 98.354% chance I won’t like you either.
• Fucking embedded music players. The last thing I want while browsing the web is your crappy music blaring in the background and waking the dead man in the shed out back. It’s intrusive and ghey and insulting that you even think I’d like that music anyway. Whatever it is.
• Fucking embedded video’s. See above. Every time I visit my little brothers profile I’m assaulted by the sound of some idiot kid having a violent encounter with his keyboard. I’d like to have a violent encounter with the punk that posted it in his comments.
• MySpaceHoochiesâ„¢. They are all over the place. They’ve infected it like a nasty virus. You can’t stand to see them but you still stop and stare. Like looking at road kill. Only road kill is not as Photoshopped and a little more appealing.

It’s sad really. They basically opened a flood gate of stupidity and every moron on the planet with a digital camera and an internet connection now has a way to pollute the web. One of the girls at work was showing another her MySpace yesterday. This is the same girl I overheard asking another how to add “more pixels to her camera” and “what’s the difference between a regular pixel and a mega one”. *shudder*

It’s not that I think all these people shouldn’t be allowed on the internet. (I might actually think that a little but for the sake of my point, believe it okay?) Or that every person on MySpace is guilty of one of the above offences. I guess it’s just my way of not welcoming change. Once upon a time, having a personal spot on the web was kind of a badge of honor us geeks wore proudly. Now, with the invention of idiot proof pre designed community sites it’s just become a new fad. Like those horrid leggings all the girls are wearing now. Or blue eye shadow.

12 year olds posting crotch shots complete with ‘My Humps’ as background music and their names in pink and purple “sparkling” image next to a glowing Playboy Bunny seems to cheapen all the hard work and dedication that goes into what you get at a personal domain. What you see here at aflux or over at Amabilis. Places where the emphasis is on creative individualism and eye candy and on leaving your personal mark on something.

Or maybe I’m just freaking the fuck out because a neighbor boy left a love letter in the mailbox for Cassidy in which he calls her is girlfriend.

Who knows…

There’s a new layout. In case you hadn’t noticed. I really really really love the way it’s turned out. I downloaded a free theme from nifty.nu then spent two days tearing it apart and building it back up. I can never leave good enough alone. I need to update the site section. And still need to get around to doing anything to the about section. But it’s pretty to look at. The graphic will change too. Eventually. It’s too plain right now. But it needs to be simple and everytime I try and create something it turns out LOUD(!!). And that’s the opposite of what I want right now.

Our sunflower and poppy plants have sprouted. Cassidy is beyond excited and if the care she has been giving these little sprouts is any indication of the future parent she might be, she will raise spoiled rotten and completely smothered children. But they will be well fed and watered. Daily. At 3:00PM.