A truly unexpected occurance....

So I have been playing online games with my XBox360 for several months now. I have met several people that are very nice and pleasent to play with. There are a few that I play with more than others. Last night one of them asked me to speak with him privately. He wanted to share some personal thoughts and feelings regarding what had been happening in his life recently.

Basically he told me about some frustrations with his girlfriend that he likes a lot. She is going through some hard times surrounding the death of a family member. He also revealed some not so great moments in his life (suicide attempt and heavy marijuana usage resulting in an arrest and jail time).

But he felt he was being pulled or called for a greater purpose and that he had not found what that was. I share a little bit about my belief in God as well as my recommendation that he needed to seek counseling.

It was an interesting experience. One that I never thought would happen in this environment.

Servant

So we are at Applebee's tonight and JC says "There she is." "Who?" we asked "Our Servant" (as she was pointing to our server)

Broke Hearts

JC came home today from kindergarten. I asked her how recess went as she has been having issues with the girl that is seemingly her best friend. You see the girl has "not allowed" JC to play with her good friend Nick. We found out from Nick's mom that JC and Nick had "broke hearts" because they were not allowed to play together.

B emailed the teacher to ask if anything could be done to help JC become more assertive and not allow another child to tell her what she is allowed and not allowed to do. Apparently today on the playground the teacher brought Nick and JC together (with the pushy girl in tow). the teacher told JC and Nick that they were allowed to play together.

Well this little girl was not to happy and she told JC that she did not want to be friends with her. JC did not miss a beat. She just went over and played with Nick as well as made new friends. When I asked JC about it she said that her and her friend "broke hearts" today because she didn't want JC playing with Nick. Oh well~

From the mouth of babes....

So the other day I was napping with JHGIII. I had rented a pay-per-view movie called 300. I didn't get a chance to see it in the movie theater (when do I ever get to go to the movies). I digress. Anyway, the movie reached a point to where one of the main character's son got his head chopped off. Right after his head fell to the ground JHGIII woke up. He looked at the TV and said "where him's head"?

A small occurance from this morning

So there we were laying in the bed this morning. My family came upstairs to wake me up. I was laying on my stomach and JCG and B were laying next to me. Where was JHGIII? Oh, there he is, he is rubbing something on my back and saying "Rooolllllleeeeerrrrcooooaaaasster". Awwwww how cute is he? Wait, what is he rubbing on my back?

Just one of B's tampons still in the wrapper.

The hidden underworld of online gaming...what your kids don't want you to know

As I have explained in previous posts, I purchased an Xbox360 a few months ago. I bought it because i wanted to buy a new computer to be able to handle some of the newer games coming out. It has been more than 4 years since we bought our last desktop computer. So B suggested that I purchase an Xbox in lieu of a new computer since all I wanted the new computer for was to play games. (I knew she was smart but her logic was flawless on this one)

I immediately purchased Halo 2 and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. These are what are commonly referred to as first person or third person shooter games. You know, you are walking down a hall and something jumps out at you and you fire the weapon in your hand in hopes of killing it.

What you may not know is that these games have an online component to them. A place that you can connect over the internet to play other people with the same game. The online version of the game differs slightly from the single player version of the game in that you can usually play with a group of online gamers to accomplish a task or basically just kill each other.

Some of these games are pretty intense in their reality and life like game play. Some of the games have almost realistic body parts exploding when shot. Blood seemingly splatters in your face.

So what don't your kids want you to know about these games.

Secret #1: The age of children being allowed to play this game online is utterly shocking. I have been online and played against 8 year old kids. There are rated R movies that you would not allow your 8 year old child to see and yet you are letting them play these games. If you are a parent of a child that owns a gaming system BE SURE to research the games they play BEFORE they purchase them. If you visited the http://www.gearsofwar.com web site I highly doubt you would have allowed your child to play this game.

Secret #2: Even if you are going to allow your child to play the game, be sure you are aware of their online playing habits. What you don't realize is that there are people all over the world playing these games online. I am 38 years old. That means there are people as much as 30 years older than some of these kids PLAYING WITH YOUR KIDS, TALKING TO YOUR KIDS. I am no danger to your kids but I can't speak for everyone.

Secret #3: Think of how you were when you first moved out of your parents house? Remember what it was like to live in a world where you could do whatever or say whatever you wanted and your parents would never know? The world of online gaming is a place that your kids are using as their first exposure to that life. What am I talking about? Well let me explain it to you another way. Here are some of the actual conversations I have heard or seen occur between gamers online.

"Hey does anyone want to have cybersex?"

"You suck at this game as much as your mom sucked me last night"

And for the occasional female that chooses to play in this largely male teenage dominated world..."(girl talking)....Boy you really blew my head off with that shotgun...(boy speaking)...not as much as you will blow my head off.....etc....you get the point"

So why do I play in this world if all this garbage is being spewed out during game play? The main reason is that I avoid playing with people that would talk this way. Online gaming gives me an outlet to play with a group of people that enjoy playing the same game I do. I don't have anyone living around me that wants to play these games as often as I would. So I enjoy the comeraderie with these people.

Just beware that there is a sub culture that operates within your child's bedroom and you don't even know it.

First day of Kindergarten for JCG

This is JCG two years ago before her first day of pre-school.



This is my baby girl one year later before her 2nd year of pre-school.

And this is my baby girl before her first day of kindergarten.

For your viewing pleasure this is a photo montage of how mommy wanted to remember the day. There are more pictures than this but this is my blog. If she wants to show you more....she will have to get her own blog... :)

J sleeping

J waking up

J and J eating breakfast together

J saying goodbye to J

Me walking J to school.

My how time flies. Today was her first day of kindergarten. For me personally it went off great. She started a new chapter of her life. She did great. She was excited. She was happy. She looked exceedingly beautiful. She didn't miss a step.

The real story of the day was B. B was a sight to see. She did some crying. She did not want to have JCG going to school one little bit. It was absolutely another reason why I love this woman so much. She has the biggest and squishiest heart of anyone I know.