Runescape

My boys have been playing Runescape.

From their site:

RuneScape is a browser-based MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). In simple terms, all this means is that the game is not bought or downloaded, but instead runs off our website, through a popular program called JAVA.

The ‘massively multiplayer’ aspect of MMORPG refers to the idea that hundreds or thousands of people can play a game together, online, at the same time. In RuneScape, as many as two thousand people can play on a single server at any one time.

A ‘role playing game’ (or RPG) is described best by taking its title quite literally; you play the ‘role’ of an adventurer. In RuneScape, after designing your character by choosing its physical attributes and base clothing, you enter a ‘tutorial island’ where you are introduced to the basic features of the game – talking to computer controlled characters (NPCs or Non Player Characters), fishing, mining and woodcutting. After this you are sent into the actual game environment, where you then have a whole world to explore.

RuneScape is a fantasy RPG. Although it is set in a fictional world, many aspects of the game are very familiar. Like the real world, RuneScape has an economy; players can buy and sell items from shops or trade with one another and can even dictate their own prices. The in-game currency is called GP (gold pieces) and allows players to purchase anything they might need to live within the gaming world. If their character loses health, they will need to eat and drink in order to replenish. If a player wants to attempt a more dangerous quest, then they will need better armour and supplies in order to succeed. They can even chop wood, smith nails and weave cloth in order to build and maintain their very own house.

Every player has a set of skills that can be improved. The more a player practises each one (by completing tasks directly relevant to that ability, e.g. chopping wood increases the ‘woodcutting’ skill), the higher their rating in that skill.

A higher skill level unlocks new items and abilities that can be utilised to better effect. It also gives the player a higher overall rating, which is visible to other players and shows their experience.

This is them tonight, Cimion (14 yrs. old) playing on one of our PCs and Billy (my husband) on the laptop.

The artist in all of us

Is an artist someone who makes money from their art? Someone who has their sculptures in a museum or takes formal classes? What about a child drawing a picture of their house? Or someone painting their first self portrait for the fun of it?

In "What is an artist anyway?" Tera Leigh has this to say;

"Being an artist is about more than just creating original work or mastering every skill! It pervades every facet and moment of our life. If you've ever rearranged your furniture, you used your artistic ability. If you've ever painted a white room a different color, you've change and created".

Pay attention to the moments in your life when you are creating, and remember to acknowledge it. You are being an artist. Creating something makes you an artist. It really is that simple. :-)

Tera again;

"What if you just decided to call yourself an artist? Right this second, pick up a tablet of paper and write: I AM AN ARTIST on it. If it makes you laugh or feel nervous write it over and over and over until those feelings diminish. If you have struggled with defining yourself as an artist, those feelings will not go away overnight. When people in your life question you about it, you will feel those old doubts creeping back up. You will have to continue to work at it but like anything else in life, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Artist is just a word. It is a way that others can understand what it is that we do. You are worthy of this title. You are so very valuable".

Jessica, a member from a group I belong to, Imagination Tribe posted a quote by Nina Wise, from a book entitled "A Big, New, Free, Happy Unusual Life";

"You already know everything you need to know to live a big, free, happy, unusual, enthusiastic, and amusing life. Creativity is an inborn aspect of being alive. All you need to do is relax and let it out. And if you do, you will find yourself, without the slightest hint of effort, dancing in your living room, singing in the car, writing poetry on cocktail napkins, and noting the dinner plate is a perfect canvas for a painting made of food."

Also, from the same book;

I've been told the story of a six-year-old girl who asked her mother where she was going one afternoon. The mother replied that she was headed for the university to teach her students how to draw and paint. "You mean they've forgotten? her daughter asked, amazed.

I never felt like an artist. Not until recently anyway. Not until I started unschooling my children and deschooling myself. Not until I had a daughter (Jacqueline) who would accept nothing less than being an artist because she draws comic strips and being a writer because she writes stories.

My daughter & I have been creating Artist Trading Cards for several months now and have traded them at Imagination Tribe and atcards.com. ATC's are miniature works of art that are the same size as a baseball card. How you create them are totally up to you. There is no right way or better way. It's up to you. You can draw, paint, collage, melt wax, use metal, ribbon...the only limit is your imagination.

I created the "Dream" ATC above. It's a reminder to myself. :-)

Here's one that Jacqueline (age 8) did.



YOU are an artist. Don't save the word artist for "other people". It belongs to anyone who creates.

Yellow Kalanchoe

I've posted before about my my black thumb. Well, it seems to be getting slightly greener. :-)
I have no idea how these kalanchoe have survived living in my yard. lol

Day 169: Our Christmas Tree '06

I took this today...the gifts are there because we're waiting for my aunt and cousin to come back to Florida (they went home for the holidays) so we can exchange gifts with them.

Day 168 (non-human babies)

Here are photos (taken today) of my two non-human babies. :-)

First is Mini. She's a 7 year old, miniature poodle and we've had her since she was about 7 weeks old. She loves to play tug-o-war, chase squirrels and enjoys hanging out and watching the kids when they're playing a board game or watching TV. She's very attached to my husband & I, and she sleeps in bed with us every night. :-) Her nicknames are Mini Pearl and Minnie Ha Ha (given to her by my mother's late husband), The Princess (given to her by Shawna) and Minala Goldberg (given to her by one of our friends). We usually call her Mini Girl.



Next is Buddie. She's a 10 year old, green iguana (scientific name: Iguana iguana). We've had her since she was about a year old and she was 22" long (from head to tail) and weighed one pound. Now she's 44" inches long and weighs about seven pounds. :-) She is a free-roaming iguana, meaning she's not caged. She basically lives in our screen room (1,200 sq. feet). This time of year she spends her days outside but sleeps inside because it gets cold at night. She's very user friendly and allows people to handle her.